Family of Demons
by cneko2
Summary: After ten years of Konoha enforced exile, Naruto returns home. PG-13 for language and light GaaNaru COMPLETE!
1. chapter 1

Author's notes at the bottom.

Disclaimer Dance: Naruto characters = Not mine, never will be belongs to Kishimoto Sensei and the nice people at Shounen Jump. I'm just playing. I'll dust 'em off and put 'em back on the shelf once I'm done. 

***********

Somewhere deep within the mountainous area far north of Konoha Village, there was a small cabin. Within this cabin, lived a man. He was closer to a boy, in all reality, but still a young man nonetheless. The cabin was under frequent surveillance by Konoha Jounin and Chuunin, frequent instead of constant due to the chakra warding that surrounded a significant radius of the area that would alert the konoha shinobi and Hokage if the young man left.

There was a small village just within the range of the wards and the young man went there perhaps once every three months or so. The cabin was surrounded by a large dense forest and the young man knew how to provide for himself. He had had ten long years to learn after all. 

About a year and half ago, a recently promoted Chuunin had reported something interesting. The young man, who lived alone and as a rule generally had no visitors, was approached by another young man of similar age. The two appeared to know each other and so the visitor had stayed with the young man. The chuunin alerted Hokage-sama, as was his duty, and Hokage-sama had given the matter a moment of thought. She then smiled slightly, and concluded that it was quite alright for the young man to have his visitor stay. After all, the exile verdict was limited only to Konoha citizens. And no, the elders were not to hear of this development unless she was the one reporting it.

And so the young man and his long term visitor lived peacefully. 

At least for a while.

_Sometimes,_ Tsunade thought as she walked up the path to the cabin, _it really sucks to be Hokage._

How would he react she wondered. Would he do as he should and tell them to fuck off? Or would he yet again offer his life, heart, and soul to the village? Would he even still be himself? It was the last thought that worried her more than anything else. What had exile done to him? Guilt ate away at her, as it had daily for ten years. Sighing, she shook her head to clear away unpleasant thoughts and paused. 

Looking up, she waved jauntily to the floating sphere of sand above her. 

A few minutes later, the front of the cabin came into view and with it a familiar golden head.  He was taller than the last time she had checked up on him with her crystal, but that was to be expected. He'd never be truly tall, but he was tall enough and certainly of equal height with the young man standing next to him. A bit more muscular and angular, but that came with maturity. No, the biggest difference was there and it hit her like a kunai to the heart. 

Naruto had lost his smile.

No cheeky, squinty eyed fox grin greeted her. No, long gone was the smiling hyper active boy. He was gone and left this closed off, anguished young man. Blue eyes regarded her with an almost feral look. Pain and hatred and darkness lurked within those eyes, and then he blinked and it was all gone. 

"Saaa…it's been awhile, Baachan. To what do I owe the pleasure?" He stepped forward to greet her, the familiar smile plastered so incredibly fake over his face. She felt the old sadness creeping up and over her again. Better to make this quick. "Naruto. And…Gaara of the Desert, correct?" 

The pale young male with fiery hair standing behind her fallen prodigy nodded silently. She attempted some small talk until Naruto cocked his head, looking at her with those squinted eyes. "Who's attacking?" he said bluntly.

Tsunade blinked. "Now, how did you…" "Baachan…I'm blonde but I'm not stupid. There's only one reason the elders would _ever_ agree to let the 'too powerful monstrosity' back into the village and that's the only reason they'd allow you to come visit the outcast." No, he wasn't bitter at _all_. 

Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Tsunade sighed. She had known this wasn't going to be easy. "One of our scouts recently discovered movement against Konoha. The Sound is gathering forces." Naruto was not impressed. "The Sound has gathered forces for the past fourteen years. You never hauled out the Village's dirty little secret until now. What's different?"

He wanted it hard and straightforward. Fine then.

"Sasuke."

The boy literally hissed, blue eyes flashing red. The other boy…Gaara was it? Stepped forward and placed a restraining hand on the blonde. 

"Sasuke deflected soon after…" she broke off looking for a delicate way of putting it. Naruto supplied one. "After the elders ripped apart my dreams and kicked me out on my ass, yeah, please continue." 

" He killed every hunter nin sent after him and went straight to Orochimaru. We worried…but he had never attacked the village offensively before. Until two months ago. One of our best ANBU teams was wiped out; the survivor was stuck in a Sharingan induced coma for a week. He'd been left as a message, apparently."

"Orochimaru's butt monkey has finally returned home and since master dearest says trash the place, I as his snakeyness's official ass kisser will gladly do so." He snorted.

"Perhaps not quite so crudely." 

"Ya want polite? Go talk to Sakura-chan."

"…………" Tsunade couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes.

"Baachan…what is it? What happened to Sakura-chan?" Genuine concern filled those baby blue eyes. 

"She followed him, Naruto. Followed him straight to Orochimaru. We…we haven't seen her since. Sasuke we've at least had a few reports of over the years but…there's been no sign of Sakura."

Blue eyes widened in disbelief. "No…" He then screamed. Loudly. "That snake fuckin' sonufvabitch!!!! He _never_ loved her, why the _hell_ would she do that? Why did she just…just…" He fell on his knees, the momentary display of emotion over. 

Gaara, who had been a silent pillar of support for the blonde man clasped the other's shoulder and said softly. "Naruto." The blonde looked up at him, lost for a minute. "She was innocent…out of all of us…she was still the most innocent…" The sand nin looked on. "I'm sorry, Naruto. Really, but…you've got _other_ things to worry about right now." His green eyes flickered quickly to the window of the cabin. That seemed to snap the fox boy back into the here and now. 

There was something in the way the man had said 'other things' that set off Tsunade's mental alarms, coupled with the flicker of his eyes, there was something she was quite sure these two were hiding from her. It could wait. There were more pressing matters. 

"Sorry to go all official, but this _is_ what I came here for unfortunately. Uzumaki Naruto, as of this day your exile from Konoha Village will be revoked and status as a Chuunin will be reinstated upon claiming that you will assist in the coming battle against Hidden Sound Village and the Missing Nin Uchiha Sasuke. As Hokage, and on behalf of the council of elders I issue this request." 

The young man in front of her chuckled bitterly as he returned to his feet. His spikey blonde hair obscured his eyes, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking. "Let me get this straight. You kicked me out of the village ten years ago to save the Pretty Boy's ass and now that he's run off to join the Snake, you're calling me back to fight him?" His laugh was once more bitter, but there was a slight edge of hysteria in there as well. "Like I've got a fuckin' choice? Konoha's got me by the balls either way. Sure. Why not? I'd like to kick Sasuke's ass once and for all." 

Tsunade sighed. There. That was over at least.

"_However_, Hokage-_sama_, I have two conditions." 

Internally, she groaned. She really should have seen this coming.

"Very well. It depends upon what they are." 

He smirked. "Oh, nothing too terribly costly for a fine village like Hidden Leaf. Simply that, One: Where I go, Gaara goes."  Tsunade's eyes slid towards the silent young man. The silent young man who was standing protectively behind Naruto and could almost be considered hovering. _Oh ho…so that's how it is, is it? Good for you, Naruto._

"That should not be too much difficulty. The second?" _Here it comes._ She thought. 

Much to her surprise, Naruto turned towards the cabin and spoke. "It's okay, Kitling. You can come out now." _So that's what they've been hiding._ She smiled slightly. _What is it? A dog? Kitten? Fox cub, perhaps?_ She nearly snickered at the last thought.

A small head sporting blonde pigtails, big blue eyes, and faint whisker marks peeked around the corner. It looked at Naruto, then to Gaara who nodded, and then cautiously at Tsunade herself.  Tsunade felt her jaw drop as a little girl of about six made a bee line to the exiled chuunin. 

She was rather cute once Tsunade's brain worked past its confusion. The top layer of her hair was in two pigtails with the rest flowing down around her shoulders. She wore Naruto's old orange and blue jacket which was obviously several sizes too large for her and dragged a reddish brown stuffed fox in her right hand. Naruto scooped her up and smiled. _His smile hasn't completely disappeared_. The thought was random and somehow fought its way past the utter confusion she was feeling at the moment. "Kitling, this is Tsunade-sama. She wants Papa and Gaara to go with her to fight some bad people who are trying to hurt her village." 

_Her_ village, not _my_ village. Ouch. That hurt, even though she supposed she should have expected it. The little girl looked at her curiously, and then turned back to her Papa. "Is Kizuko coming?" Naruto nodded, giving Tsunade a significant look. "Of course, if Kizuko isn't coming then Papa and Gaara aren't going." Something told her that this was condition number two. 

She smiled at the little one. "Yes, Kizuko is welcome to come." She then gave Naruto an expression that clearly said 'We are having a very long, very serious talk later'. Naruto merely smile a smart ass smile in return that said 'Whatever Hokage-sama wishes'.  "Ne, Papa…can Kon Kon come too?" Kizuko held up the stuffed fox. Naruto nodded. "Yup. After all, what good is Kizuko-chan going if Kon Kon can't come with her?" The little girl giggled happily, then slid down and ran back inside the cabin. "Kizuko is going to pack!"

"Two Uzumakis plus a Sand nin? Konoha will never recover."

Gaara smirked. Naruto grinned ferally. "That's the general idea, Baachan." 

********************

Ack…this probably could have been done better.  Hell, I'm not even sure if I'll continue it. What do you folks think? Is it worth it? Or should I chunk it?

And while my deranged yaoi fangirl brain still claims SasuNaru as the One True Pairing, I find myself with this immense fascination of GaaNaru. 

Kizuko has been running around in my head for awhile now. She sort of is and isn't the result of mpreg. (it's rather complicated) Needless to say, don't let the cuteness fool you. She originally started off as innocent evil incarnate, but has since mellowed. I mean, her name was derived from the two kanji of 'Kizu' (wound) and 'ko' (child)…so…yah.

Oh, and Kon Kon. Kon is the Japanese sound of a fox barking, so basically Kizuko chan's stuffed animal is named 'bark bark'. ^^;;;;;


	2. chapter 2

Holy schnikes!!! 17 reviews?!! That's more than I've ever gotten on any of my other stories. Huh. Guess that means I'll be continuing this. ^^ I'm glad you folks like it. 

Cneko: Ne, ne guess what Kizuko-chan?

Kizuko: nani, nani?

C: These nice people seem to actually like you and aren't reaming me a new one for original characters! Well…not yet at least.

K: Wai!! Arigato nice people!! Kon Kon says Thank You too!

Oh, yes. And thank you to whomever it was that mentioned my lack of commas in the first part. That's what I get for typing and posting that sucker at 5AM when I'm dead tired. Hopefully, that's been fixed now.

So. PG-13 for language and a bit o' light GaaNaru. I'm trying not to focus too much on the yaoi here. *crosses fingers* Let's see if I can do that. ^^;; There will also be OOCness for some bits…but I mean, hey, come on. Naruto's been in exile for 10 years. I think he's allowed to be bitter. Although I'm going to try to stay true to the core of the character…so smack me upside the head if I venture too far into OOC country, please.

***********

The journey back to Konoha was uneventful and quick. None of the cabin's occupants had much in the way of material possessions, so packing had been done quickly. Clothing and other essentials divided into three packs, and they were off.

 There had been a brief disruption when Kizuko had run into the forest and had to be carried out by Naruto. 

"Is she alright?" Tsunade had asked, looking at the softly crying child with concern. Naruto nodded in return, handing the snuffling girl over to Gaara. "Yes, she was just saying good bye to her friends." "Her friends? I wasn't aware that there were any other children around here." "There's a family of foxes that live nearby in the forest." That seemed to be the most of an explanation she was getting. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before walking through the giant gates of Konoha, Naruto dug around in his back and pulled out a faded blue scrap of cloth. "Never thought I'd put this back on again." He muttered. Kizuko's blue eyes lit up. "What's that, Papa?" Rubbing the cloth absently, he stared at it for a long moment and the smiled down at his daughter. "This is Papa's hitai. It shows that Papa is a ninja." He tied the hitai around his forehead. It was odd…the action had been so common place for so many years of his life but now it felt strange. That went with ten years of exile, he guessed. 

Kneeling, the blonde smiled at the smaller blonde by his side. "What do you think, Kitling?" "Papa's so cool and handsome!" Naruto grinned and turned towards the quiet laughter on his left. "What? You know she only speaks the truth!" He smirked at the sand nin, who rolled his eyes in return. "Papa is! Papa is!" Kizuko squeaked, jumping up and down in front of Gaara in defense of her father. "Bah. Ignore him, Kitling. Gaara's just jealous." 

"Oh, really?" Green eyes glinted with mischief, which was rare into itself. Heavens forbid that the prankster blonde not go along with any type of mischief. "Yes, really. You're jealous of my utter and complete coolness, as well as my drop dead good looks and ultra sexy body!" Gaara snorted. Kizuko scrunched up her face in confusion. "Papa, what's …'sexy' mean?" The look of horrified embarrassment that comes with such innocent, yet uncomfortable, questions crossed the blonde's face. "Urk…umm…Look, Kitling! That's the village where Papa grew up."

Thank Heavens for six years olds's attention spands.

Gaara sided up to him. "Nice save." He said in a low voice. "Never let me mention anything involving the word 'sex' around her for at least twenty years." Naruto replied rubbing a hand over his face. He looked ahead to the city that lay within the huge gates. "Gaara…what am I doing here?" The red head frowned. "You're standing in the middle of the road for one thing." "I'm serious!" Light blue eyes met light green and held. "You are here to reclaim your dreams, to give your daughter a life outside of exile, and to prove to the idiots in there that you're not _just_ a demon." Naruto smiled and leaned into the other man. "Thanks. How do I survive without you around?" "You very nearly don't." came the snort.

~~~~~~~~~

Returning to Hidden Leaf was having a negative effect on him to say the least. Walking through the streets he could feel the stares and hear the hushed whispers behind hands. 

_"Is that…?"_

_"I thought the elders banished him…"_

_"Why did they let that monster return?"_

Monster…demon…killer…He'd dealt with it before; he could deal with it again. He smiled as Kizuko danced ahead of him, Kon Kon's ever present form flopping through the air. No matter how bad it got, they couldn't break him. Not with her around. Not with a child's unconditional love to prove he was worth more than the demon inside him.

But…it still hurt. 

Walking through the village, flashes of memory came back unbidden.

_"Congradulations, you graduate."_

_"Ne, Iruka-sensei, you'll treat me to ramen, right?"_

_"You're late!! Don't lie!!"_

_"I'm gonna be Hokage someday!!"_

_"Naruto, You make me tired…"_

_"Naruto…why can't you be more like Sasuke-kun?"___

_"Sasuke's the best!"_

_"Give it up, Dobe."_

_"It is not Uchiha Sasuke's fault. He is under the influence of the cursed seal…However, the Kyuubi is a completely different matter. It is obvious that if the demon, even if sealed, were to remain in the village, it would be a danger to all living here. Therefore, we decree exile."_

_Exile…Monster…Exile…Demon …Exile…Kyuubi…Exile…_

"No!" he cried out against the memories, squeezing his eyes shut, trying to block out the past. Gaara paused beside him, silently offering support. Kizuko must have heard his cry because the next thing he knew he was holding an armful of blond and orange and blue. "Is Papa sad?" Naruto smiled sadly. "A little, Kitling. Papa has some not nice memories of this place." The little girl frowned in a Very Serious Manner. After all, something was upsetting Papa. "Kizuko will make Papa better." She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then wrapped her arms around his neck. "You already do, Kitling." He buried his face in her hair, inhaling her scent. " See? All better. Now, shall we go see what Tsunade-sama wants us to do?"

"Hai!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As usual, bureaucracy  ruled the Hokage office. They had been left waiting outside for twenty minutes. That duration had left enough time for Naruto to get at least fifteen hate-filled glares and flick off ten of them, Gaara to almost kill someone twice, and Kizuko to find a bottle of ink and start drawing on the walls. Naruto noticed with slightly guilty pleasure that the ink was permanent. 

Finally, Tsunade opened the door to her office. She blinked at the scene that greeted her. Naruto was fidgeting and rather quiet. That was never good. Gaara looked bored and annoyed. That was _certainly_ never good.  Kizuko sat on the floor happily making ocean scenes and sand castles out of the bottle of blue ink and sand, courtesy of Gaara. That was…definitely going to be trouble for the cleaning staff later on.

Tsunade felt a migraine coming on. 

"Naruto, if I could speak with you alone, please…" The young man in question fidgeted, his eyes flickering from his daughter to Tsunade. "Go on. I'll watch her."  The blonde gave the Sand nin an expression of absolute relief and walked through the door. 

Tsunade closed the door behind them and returned to her desk. "Let's start simple, shall we? Arrangements are being made to acquire a small apartment for the three of you. It should be ready within the hour. Now, there should be no problem with any of you staying, unless of course, Gaara is…"

"He's not a Missing Nin." Naruto cut her off. "His siblings know where he is." 

Tsunade nodded. "Good that makes things a lot easier on my end. You'll be expected to start back to your duties as a Chuunin immediately. I assume we can expect Gaara to be assisting you?" "Only if he wants to." "Just let me, or you superior know if he does. Taking out an ally because they aren't wearing a Konoha Hitai would be sloppy to say the least." She was silent for a long moment. "Naruto…I'm sure you've already noticed it by now, but…the villagers, well, a lot of them have long memories. And after what happened, we can't expect the law about saying anything to the children to still apply. At least not to your generation. I'm afraid I can't guarantee the type of treatment you'll receive from them." 

"Hey, I lived with it for twelve years…at least this time around I'll know _why_ everyone hates me so much." He shrugged. She studied him carefully, this young man who had known far too much pain in his short life. "You're taking this awfully nonchalantly." "Baachan, it's either this or I let it drive me insane. I'd like to think I'm stronger than that. Besides, Kizuko needs me." 

"About her…I assume you'll want to place her in the Academy? Iruka is still teaching you know." The young man's face became wistful. "Iruka-sensei? Definitely." "I'll arrange someone to take her there tomorrow then." She was silent again for a moment.

"Naruto…who is the mother?"

The younger man glared at her, as if measuring how safe something was, and then broke out into a grim smile. Tsunade was wearing her 'I Am _The_ Hokage You _Shall_ Do As I Command' face. No backing out of this one.  "There was no mother. She's mine and mine alone."

Tsunade blinked. "I assure you, as a medical nin, that's very much impossible." "Only if you don't have a kyuubi sealed up inside you. Lucky me, I do. And she likes me." 

This appeared to be the day for much blinking and incomprehensible subject matter. "Explain." 

He growled deep in the back of his throat, and if she hadn't been Hokage and a Sennin she probably would have been very much intimidated. Good thing she was. "After you all so graciously decided to exile me, Nine Tails and I got to know each other a little better. She's really not all that bad, in a homicidal sort of way. Sort of like the mother I never had. Due to the village that never wanted me, never loved me, and then ripped me away from the few who did decide I was worth something just to save some pretty boy's ass." Blue eyes flash crimson and the whiskers marks deepened a shade purpler. This, she had seen coming. This explosion of anger and resentment, she had seen it coming and been waiting for it, but still couldn't prepare her to deal with it. 

"Do you have idea what it's like? To never have been wanted, loved? To be hated, not because of who you are, but because of what some benevolent asshole sealed in you? And then, and then…to finally be accepted." He smiled, happier days clearly replaying themselves in his mind. "To know that there are people out there that care about you and love you. That's the best feeling in the world. Normal people take it for granted, but I never did. I would have given my life, my soul, to protect this village. I did give up a piece of myself so that I could use Nine Tail's power to do just that. And how do you repay me? 'You're too dangerous and therefore we must exile you' I went from having everything to fuckin' _nothing_ because I cared enough to protect this place!! You locked me away!! Away from everything I had ever loved and never even allowed me more than an hour or two of human contact!!!" 

She watched the young man in front of her roar out his anguish and rage, desperately wishing that the idiots on the council could have seen just a fraction of how much this boy had cared. She had argued, fought, begged, and pleaded. And it had all fallen upon deaf ears. They had just been _looking_ for a chance to get rid of the boy it seemed. For all her power as Hokage, she hadn't been able to save one boy when it had truly mattered. It still tore at her, and probably would every day for the rest of her life. In front of her, Naruto had gone frighteningly calm.

"My life after that? Hell. Complete and utter. And I came very very close many times to just saying fuck the world and leaving it all behind. But she wouldn't let me do that, because if I go, then she goes too. So…she gave me Kizuko." Crimson drained away to soft blue and the snarl of rage melted into a father's fond smile.  "She gave me the most precious thing in my life." He suddenly remembered he had an audience.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu combined with Sexy no Jutsu, because I know you're wondering. You medical nin are like that."

"YOU SLEPT WITH YOUR OWN CLONE?!!" That was too much, if she _was_ Hokage.

A look of puzzled, utter disgust crossed his face. "Hell, no. Are all sennin perverts or are you three just a special breed? Kizuko was made from chakra. Nine Tails told me how to. I had my clone use the jutsu to transform into a girl and then Nine Tails and I used our combined chakra to form Kizuko inside the clone. It was kind of like forming a seal, only internally. Kizuko was conceived and born within a day, when the time was right I released the hold on the chakra forming the clone and there she was.  My little girl."  He held out his right hand where there was still a shallow, yet cleanly healed scar. "I had to use my blood as well as the combined chakra. It was hard, really hard. I barely had enough chakra to do more than sleep for a week or so after. But it was worth it." 

Tsunade sighed. This was…unbelievable, at best. "Then Kizuko is…"

The growl was back. "Kizuko is just as real as any of those children in that academy. She eats, sleeps, breaths, cries, gets hurt, has nightmares, and loves. She's my daughter."

"Very well. I'm a bit in shock though, it's not everyday that I see the product of asexual reproduction, you understand. Though she certainly does look like you."

The blonde gave a harsh laugh. "Asexual? I suppose you could consider it that, but… Don't be fooled, check her chakra next time. She's as much a part of Nine Tails as she is a part of me." He gave a feral grin. "Therefore I suggest you do not make her mad unless you're prepared to deal with the consequences and property damage." He stood and headed for the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, Godaime-_sama_, my little girl is waiting for me." He walked abruptly to the door, and slammed it behind him. Gaara looked up at him, curious. He huffed, nearly going back into rant mode but was quickly stopped. 

"Papa!" A blur of blonde pigtails and orange and blue cloth launched at him. He caught her up in a hug and held tight. "Hey, Kitling. Where you good while Papa was away?" She nodded. "Un. Kizuko-chan was very good…but…Kon Kon…." She held up the stuffed fox who was now bright blue with spilled ink. Naruto glared at Gaara around the blue fox. "You call that watching her?" Gaara shrugged. "I watched her turn the fox blue. She didn't hurt herself." The blonde groaned "Remind me to hurt you later. Kitling…I think Kon Kon's gonna need bath." Her blue eyes widened in horror. "A bath?! Kon Kon's not _that_ dirty!" 

He eyed the toy skeptically. "I hate to say it but I think he is, Kitling. Besides, if we give him a bath he'll smell nice again. You don't want him smelling like nasty ink do you?" Kizuko wrinkled her nosed, making a face. "Ugh! No! Kizuko wants Kon Kon to smell like the forest again. Like home!"  "Right, Kitling. Like home." His eyes drifted to the window where the Konoha skyline shone in all its crowded, concrete glory. "Like home."

The question was, was home really here anymore?

*******************

Err…Yes, so Kizuko's origins revealed. I admit it. I'm not original. I took the idea of Kyuubi being female and ran with it. ^^;;; Even though it's been pretty much proven that Kyuubi was male by the anime now. Oh well. Like this doesn't already have a big ol' AU stamped on it.

As for the conception by Chakra thing…well, I've never actually seen anything detailing what can and cannot be done with chakra. I figured if you can create actual clones of yourself with it, why not take it a step farther and (with enough of it) create life with it? Maybe I'm delusional and _this_ will be the point where everyone starts reaming me a new one. ^^;;;;  ( I did warn you it was complicated!)

I'm not insane in my logic…right? 


	3. chapter 3

Oh my….*keels over* 37 reviews?!!! *cries Gai-esque tears* You guys are so so incredibly great!!  

Cneko: Well, Kizuko-chan, They haven't started ripping into me yet and they still seem to really like you so, what do you tell the nice people again?

Kizuko-chan: Ummm…Give Kizuko and Kon Kon chocolate?

C: No, sweetie. Try again.

K: ….Oh! Thank you Nice People!!

C: ^_^ Very Good. Here you go. *gives Kizuko pocky*

K: WAI!!! =^_^=

Man, I really wish I had my scanner up here at college with me. I've got pictures of Kizuko all over my notes from the past semester. I'd love to get peoples opinion of how she looks. ( God, I'm such a feedback whore….-_-;;;)

Okay, I'm a bit torn because I've had several people ask that there be more yaoi in this and several ask that there be less. Umm…I apologize to those who want less. I'll try to keep it toned down enough to keep you read.  But this _will be light shounen ai. _Why? Because, if you'll notice in chapter 1, I Am A Yaoi Fangirl. I _like _the idea of Naruto and Gaara together. But I understand and respect that some people don't. Hence the warning.

 _However_, for those of you who want more…I'm afraid the actually story may stay at this level for a while. (Unless Gaara and Naruto decide to surprise me) But…Gaara may have a side story, which will definitely be on the yaoi side. I'm already kind of working on one in my head, so we'll see. 

Umm…oh! About my formatting. I have a tendency to see my stories rather like movies in my head, so I just write as fast as I can to keep up with the movie. Therefore I slam dialogue together a lot of the time. This really isn't a problem for me, but since so people are having trouble with it I'll try to be better about it. Heaven knows I could use a Beta Reader, but most of my normal betas aren't into Naruto at all….so I'm kind of stuck fending for myself. 

Enough of my babbling. ONWARD!

Pairings, disclaimer, and any warnings: See chapters 1&2

******************

Above Konoha, in the branches of one of the village's ancient trees, a shadow watched with crimson eyes. It had been scouting and had overheard the name Uzumaki spat out in disgust during a conversation between two villagers below. Sharingan eyes had narrowed at the name and then searched the city until it found the whisker marked blonde. And, much to its surprise, he was not alone. The red head was a wild card to the plan, he could be possibly be persuaded to join them or he would join the blonde and lend his considerable power to fighting against them. Best to leave him be for now. The hated kyuubi vessel was an obstruction to be removed. The plan had not accounted for the elders to allow the monster back into the village. No matter, word had already spread and preparations for his removal already being made. The little one…

Crimson eyes blinked. 

The little one was an unforeseen, unknown variable. Just from her appearance as a small clone of the elder Uzumaki it was obvious she couldn't be used in any way. Hmm. Appropriate actions would have to be taken. The shadow disappeared just as the adults froze in mid step and turned to look over their shoulders. 

All that met their gaze was the wind rustling through the leaves of Konoha's trees.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The apartment was indeed small, but it was large enough that they didn't crowd each other. It was only slightly smaller than the cabin, but infinitely more luxurious. There was a midsized kitchen, a living area, two bedrooms, and a small bath. Kizuko had run in as soon as Naruto had unlocked the door and swept like a small blonde tornado throughout the entire apartment before claiming the smaller bedroom with the window overlooking Konoha's forest as "Kizuko and Kon Kon's room." 

"And we want a sign."

"A sign, Kitling?"

"Un! Saying 'Kizuko to Kon Kon  no heiya'[1]…a foxed shaped one."

Naruto laughed and ruffled her hair. "We'll see what we can do, hime-sama."

"Mouuuuu~!!! Kizuko isn't a princess!!"

"Oh?"

"Kizuko is a ninja!"

"You're too loud to be a ninja." Gaara informed the little one. Who's lip immediately trembled. "But…but, Papa's a ninja and he's louder than Kizuko." Gaara laughed as said ninja turned bright red at his daughter's claim. "Your Papa is also has a ton of stamina, so he can be as loud and hyperactive as he wants and take the hits that come from that. You might want to learn to be quiet so you don't always get beat up like him." Kizuko's eyes went wide, she then turned to Naruto who sighed deeply and nodded. "Hate to say it, but Gaara's right, Kitling. Be quick and smart like a fox. Don't get beat up. Because then Papa would have to go beat up the people who beat up his Kitling. However, Gaara didn't have to say it like that." He growled at the other man. Gaara smirked. "Of course, lots of stamina has other uses too." 

Naruto choked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto stuck out his tongue at a dour looking old woman who had been giving him the evil eye for the past five minutes. It had been the least rude gesture he had made thus far today, and he was quickly becoming tired of it. At least one advantage to exile was that one didn't have to deal with rudeness and threats from an entire village. As a child it had been bad, but since the…_incident_ it had gotten worse. People who use to look sympathetically, if not kindly, upon him now openly expressed hostility. 

"Want me to kill her?" Gaara offered casually.

"Tempting, but no. That'll get _you_ exiled or worse and having been through it myself, I don't particularly wish that upon you."

"Offers still stands if you ever change your mind."

"Thanks. That's sweet. Very twisted, but sweet."

Gaara shrugged. "Where are we going again?"

Naruto turned at the next corner and tugged the Sand nin along with him. "Academy. Old Hag sent someone to pick up Kizuko this morning and enroll her there." It felt odd, he hadn't been there in over ten years, but his feet automatically remembered to way to his old refuge. This, if anything in Konoha, felt like coming home. It'd be nice to see Iruka-sensei again…at least, if Iruka-sensei didn't…No. There was _absolutely no way_ Iruka would be like the rest of the villagers. He had accepted Naruto for what he was years ago and stood by him ever since. Even when…

"Why?" Gaara's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Sorry…what?"

"I said, why the academy?"

"Oh, well, I suppose she ought to have some formal training since they're going through the trouble of keeping us around and all."

"You mean you."

"No, I mean _us_." Reaching out, Naruto grabbed the others hand. Public displays of affection be damned. Not like they could curse him more than they already did. " I told Baachan that if she wanted me then she was taking you and Kizuko too. I meant it. We're a family." The Sand nin smiled slightly at the man next to him. Family, huh? "Pretty screwed up family." Naruto grinned happily. "Yup. That's us. Just a normal family of demons. Papa, Gaara, and Kizuko-chan."  Gaara smiled and then frowned as a thought occurred to him.

"I damned well better not be the mother!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka turned at the sound of the familiar voice, smiling. "I figured I'd be seeing you when they brought that little one to me today." He embraced the younger man tightly. "I missed you, you little trouble maker." He said softly. Naruto blinked back the sudden urge to cry. "I missed you too, sensei. More than anyone, I think." There was a quiet cough behind them. "Oh yeah! You remember Gaara, right, Iruka-sensei?" The chuunin blinked. "Y…yes, but…"

"It's okay. Gaara's been around to help with Kizuko and keep me from going off the deep end the past year and half. Tsunade-sama gave him permission to be here." 

Iruka looked at the red haired young man who stared back looking bored. "I…suppose I should be thanking you then, young man. For taking care of him." Gaara blinked, confused for a minute, but then nodded. 

"Sensei," At the call, Iruka turned back to his former student who was looking around. "Where's Kizuko?" 

"She's out on your old swing."

Naruto beamed happily. "She found my swing? I knew she'd love it."

"Naruto…you should probably know…"

The blonde cocked his head to the side. "What's up?" Iruka sighed, feeling history repeating itself. "Naruto. They're children, they don't mean anything by it and they don't really know better…" He saw the young man in front of him tense and clench his fists, out of the corner of his eye he saw the red haired young man tense as well and sand swirl around his feet. "What did they do?" the foxboy demanded through clenched teeth. 

"Some of the children were teasing her today. About the whisker marks…and her last name."

Naruto stormed out of the classroom to the corner of the schoolyard where his old battered swing hung. There sat his little girl, her manner completely devoid of its normal cheerfulness. Even her pigtails seemed to be drooping. She held the ropes of the swing loosely, Kon Kon lying untouched across her lap. Her golden head bowed down as she looked only at her feet, sadness clouding those normally clear blue eyes.

He started to walk up to her, but stopped as two other children approached the swing. A little girl with light blue hair pulled back into a braid, walked up at looked down at the other girl on the swing. A few feet behind her, a boy with black hair pulled up into a ponytail, blue eyes, and a silver hoop in each ear looked on. The girl put her hands on her hips and tossed her braid over her shoulder. " Hey! You!" Kizuko looked up. "Yes…?" The blue haired girl narrowed her eyes. "Your last name is Uzumaki, right?" Kizuko nodded. "Un. Uzumaki Kizuko." 

"Well, _my_ mom says that _your_ dad is nothing but a freak who should have stayed exiled. I bet that means you're a freak too!"

Kizuko's eyes went wide and her bottom lip trembled. Naruto knew that look. He'd seen it everyday in the mirror for years, but always covered it up with a smile. He never wanted to see that look on his daughter's face and now this little brat was putting it there. Was filling those blue eyes with tears instead of the laughter that should have been there. There was a growl and he realized it was coming from him. Oh well, might as well go with it. Stepping forward to teach the blue haired brat a lesson, he was interrupted yet again.

The boy who had been watching yawned and then said in a surprisingly commanding voice. "Leave 'er alone, Aoi. Sheesh, it's her first day. Give 'er some time to learn to fight back before you rip into her. Man, you're troublesome. 'Sides. _My_ dad says her dad's pretty cool." Aoi blinked. "But…Shinosuke…"

"Oi! Shinosuke!"

Naruto knew that voice.

"Come on, kiddo. Otherwise 'Kaasan gonna have my….Naruto." The young man in front of the blonde wore normal jounin garb, and like his is son, had black hair pulled into a high ponytail and silver hoops in each ear. Naruto nodded slowly. "Shikamaru."

"So it's true. I'd heard a rumor you were back in the village, but I didn't know if…Man, you're troublesome. Leave for ten years and then show up all the sudden," 

By this point, Kizuko had realized that Papa was here. "_Papa!!_" Jumping off the swing she hurled herself at the blonde. Lazy eyes slid towards Kizuko. "With a kid no less." Shikamaru continued over the squeals of the little girl. "Only you, man."

"Yeah, well, you know me. Where there's peace to disturb, there I am." Naruto shrugged, balancing Kizuko on one hip as the little girl threw her arms around his neck and buried her head in his shoulder. Shikamaru smiled. "It's good to see you again, Naruto." Like with Iruka, Naruto felt a familiar prickling behind his eyes. "You too, Shikamaru. And I owe your son there." Shinosuke wondered up to stand next to his father, looking at Naruto with interest. Shikamaru ruffled the boy's hair. "Oyaji!" the boy huffed, and then turned to Kizuko. "Hey, ignore Aoi. She's stuck up." Kizuko peeked at the boy through one eye. "Thank you." She said softly. Shikamaru smirked and nudged his son. "Oyaji!! Aoi was just being stupid and tiresome and giving her a hard time." Shinosuke huffed. Naruto chuckled. "Obviously takes after his father."

"Don't be fooled. There's a good deal of his mother in him too."

"Finally got Ino to notice you, huh?"

"That is one battle I never want to fight again. Relationships are tiresome. I'd rather watch clouds."

"Hey, Oyaji…can we go watch clouds?" Shinosuke tugged on Shikamaru's sleeve.

"Sorry, kiddo. Kaasan wants us back. I think she's cooking." Shinosuke paled. Shikamaru nodded. "I know, son. But we've got to be men and suck it up."

Naruto offered a look of sympathy. Shikamaru nodded again and then turned to walk home. Shinosuke walked next to him, but then turned. "See ya tomorrow." Kizuko blinked and then waved shyly, Kon Kon in hand. 

" I think you made a friend, Kitling."

"But what about all the other kids that were mean to Kizuko?"

"Kitling, one true friend can be worth having to deal with a hundred mean kids. But if they're mean to you again just tell me and I'll beat 'em up for you….and Gaara can hide the bodies in his gourd."

Kizuko giggled

~~~~~~~~~~~

The shadow watched the little one with interest. Slowly, it was learning when she was vulnerable and without her guardians. She was little, and judging from the level of skill shown today in her class, she hadn't had much training. Which would make this so much easier. The redhead stood behind father and daughter scanning the treeline. Hissing, the shadow disappeared before it could be spotted. It hadn't gotten a chance to evaluate the little one as much as it wanted.

Oh, well.

There was always tomorrow.

******************

[1] Kizuko and Kon Kon's room.

Ack! I admit it!! I like ShikaIno. ^^ Although…I've really no idea where Shinosuke came from. He just sort of showed up. Heh. Kizuko needs a friend anyway. Although, I notice he talks awfully well for a six year old. I suppose he's talking after Oyaji. Either that or Kizuko-chan's communication and social skills are not up to what they should be having lived most of her formative years fairly isolated. Er…ack…that's the semester of psychology talking there. ^^;;;

Umm…I don't know when I'll next get to update because I'm going home tomorrow and I don't know if I'll be able to have internet access for my laptop. But I'll try. You people rock. ^_^ Your feedback is _defiantly_ making me get this out quicker. Thank you!!


	4. chapter 4

Cneko: Final…Fantasy…X II…..

Kizuko: Ne, write about Kizuko.

Cneko: Can't…Yuna…and…guy who looks like Tidus but probably isn't Tidus….

Kizuko: ……..*scrunches up face*

Cneko: ….DressSpheres….must…level…

Kizuko: WRITE!!!! WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE!!! *throws tantrum*

Cneko: O_O !! Yes, Ma'am!

And there is my excuse for not updating. Even though I really should have because you guys are the bestestest and you give me all those lovely reviews….

Okay!! You asked for it! And I finally figured it out!! Here's where we start hitting the spoilers for the series, folks! Up to Manga chapter 198, to be precise. (sorry, for those who aren't reading the manga…that's just how it kinda worked out…)

By the way, there _will_ be a Gaara sidestory/prequel to this. I've already got 3 pages written of it.

Onward!

*****************

The shadow watched. The little one was alone at school most of the day with only the protection of a Chuunin teacher. And then, in the afternoon the children went outside to play.  That would be the most opportune moment.

It was time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The days had somehow merged together to become nearly a month since Tsunade had come to beg their help and release him from his prison. They had fallen into a routine of sorts. 

Kizuko went to school, the children picked on her, she either bit them or Shinosuke made a timely remark about how particularly stupid a certain assignment, teacher or other such item was, Iruka-sensei would either scold her (all while having the strangest sense of dejavu) or attention would safely be diverted to less violent directions, she would come home, happily or not, dragging Kon-Kon behind her.

Naruto spent most of his days training or doing whatever petty assignments Tsunade would give him. Sometimes Gaara would tag along, sometimes not. Otherwise, he could be found attempting to make the apartment livable (He _had_ lived alone his entire life, he liked to think he knew _something_ if not much about housekeeping.) or about town causing general havoc in the gossip circles and on the comfort level of the villagers. He was always there to welcome Kizuko home in the afternoons though.

Gaara did whatever it was Gaara did. He tagged along with Naruto, if he felt like it or if he felt the Hokage had given the blonde a mission he couldn't handle alone and didn't have appropriate backup for. (And sandgods knows, _that_ was far too often. None of these leaf idiots could be considered appropriate backup except for perhaps five.) He disappear back to Sand as needed, which Kazekage had quickly learned wasn't very often if he wanted to have a long successful reign as Kazekage or alive, even. He did his duty has the family's silent guardian and sent the more hostile and vocal villagers scurrying in terror with a glare and a swirl of sand, or perhaps slightly more if they upset Naruto by upsetting Kizuko. And he endured the ramen.

Desert sun above, did he endure the ramen.

Kizuko had had one of her worse days at the Academy. Naruto had been half way down the trail back to it with murder in his eyes when a noise caught his attention. His little girl's stomach growled. Loudly. She looked at him with big eyes and said quite a matter a factly, "Papa, Kizuko is hungry."

If Kizuko is hungry, then Kizuko shall eat. Looking about quickly for the nearest source of food, he found it and almost did a double take. There it stood. His beloved Ichiraku ramen stand. He hadn't been there in ten years. No one made ramen like they did. "Kitling, how's ramen sound?" 

"Is it yummy?"

"The yummiest."

"Wai!"

And so they went, Gaara rolling his eyes as he walked behind the bouncing blondes on their way to sit at the bar. 

"Ojisan! Two Miso ramen and…Gaara, what do you want?"

Taking the empty stool next to the foxboy and sending a good homicidal glare towards a couple of other customers who were whispering and staring, the redhead replied. "Tanuki."

"Che. Figures."

At this point they had been noticed. "Irasshai…Naruto-kun?" the old man behind the counter squinted at the blonde. The blonde flinch briefly, steering himself for rejection and being kicked out. "Hai, Ojisan. It's me." The old man made a sort of odd noise. "It's been awhile, son. We've missed your business." Naruto smiled slightly. Kizuko's stomach growled again. "Ne, ne! Ojisan! Kizuko is hungry and Papa says ramen is the yummiest! Kizuko wants ramen!"

The old man blinked at the bouncing ball of blonde and orange. "Right away then, missy."

And thus was Kizuko introduced to ramen. She was truly Naruto's child, if the physical features hadn't of given it away the ramen addiction would have. Although, Gaara often smirked to himself as he watched Naruto despair in his daughter's taste buds as she craved udon nearly as much as ramen. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For all the bitterly cheerful demeanor he put forth, Naruto was worried. It had been nearly a month and Sasuke had yet to make a move. He didn't trust it, just like he didn't trust Sasuke. He felt like there was something he was missing, but he was blind to what it was. He and Gaara would often discuss it late at night after Kizuko had been put to bed. 

"I just don't get it. He attacks two Anbu forces and then is quiet."

"Maybe he decided to pull back for awhile since you've come back." Gaara sat on the bed watching him pace.  
"No. I _know_ him. He was the closet thing I had to a best friend for years. He's not afraid of me just like I'm not afraid of him. We don't _prepare_ for each other. We rush towards the other one, chakra flaring, and battle cries echoing. We drive each other crazy; we're the only ones who _can_ drive each other to that limit. Something's not right. It's like he's hesitating for some reason." Naruto paused looking out open window to the full moon in the sky above.

"And they say I'm the paranoid one?"

Naruto turned towards the bed and snorted. "You are."

Gaara shrugged. "Yes, but you seem to be intent on giving me a run for the title. Uchiha will make his move, when he makes his move. There's very little you or I can do about it until then. So shut up and come to bed."

"Says the man who doesn't sleep."

"Who said anything about sleep?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His answer came a few days later in the form of a kunai tossed directly at his head as they were walking home from a mission.

Gaara proved a handy person to have around as sand spread out and formed a protective barrier around both of them. 

"I could have caught it, you know."

The pale man shrugged. "Reflex"

Naruto raised his eyebrows. "To protect both of us?"

"I don't fancy the idea of raising her alone."

"It was a _kunai_. Hello? Basic training 101?"

Gaara just shrugged and looked the road ahead.

Naruto sighed and picked up said kunai noticing a slip of paper around it.

"Wonderful. Kunai messages. How cliché can he get? I think the time with the snake's affected his brain and sense of style."  
"Uchiha had a sense of style?"

"Yeah, the 'I'm a dark and brooding pounce' style." Unfolding the paper, Naruto read and then froze. "I've got to go."

"What? Where?" 

The blond shook his head. "Watch Kizuko, make sure she gets home from school okay." He turned to leave but was immediately incased in sand up to his waist. Blue eyes glared at green as Gaara folded his arms and calmly said "Where? You know, I do like how look and I'd really hate to have to maim you." 

"Forest clearing. Just outside of town. He wants to meet. May I go now Mother?"

The sand receeded and an odd look came over the Sand nin's face. "I meant it."

"Meant what?"

"What I said about raising her alone."

Naruto grinned. "Hey, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, remember? But…still watch her and the village for me. I trust this as much as a trust him."

"That's suppose to reassure me?"

The blonde had already sped off. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The shadow smiled and then moved towards the Academy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto reappeared in a clearing outside of, but near to Konoha. It was surrounded by tall pine trees, and there, leaning against one of those trees was Uchiha Sasuke.

He had grown taller, his raven hair was long than it use to be, and the hitae he wore bore a music note instead of a leaf, but he was still Sasuke and just the sight of him brought the years slamming back.

_It had started three years ago. Five of them had been sent to retrieve Sasuke from the Sound. Chouji had nearly died. Neji had punctured a lung and lost all movement in his left arm for nearly a year. Kiba had lost Akamaru. _

_It had been the toughest battle any of them had ever fought, but they had made it. They had gotten to Sasuke._

_Unfortunately, it hadn't been in time to keep the curse from evolving to the second level. _

_Naruto had had to use Kyuubi's power to subdue him in the end and the other five had seen. He had been kneeling, exhausted, over Sasuke's unconscious body when he turned to see the others venture bloody and beaten into the former forest he and Sasuke had fought in. For a brief panic stricken moment, Naruto felt the adrenalin pump through his body and prepared to flee from the curses and attacks he just knew were going to be coming his way. And it was going to hurt worse than ever before, because…because he considered these four comrades, if not friends._

_It never came. To his amazement and relief, Shikamaru looked from where he was supporting Chouji's thin body to meet Naruto's eyes dead on. There was silence for a moment, and then, "Nice work. __Mission__ accomplished. Now, let's go home, I'm tired." _

_The other three never made any mention of what they had seen and hadn't treated him any differently. _

_They all thought that had been the end of it. They somehow dragged each other and Sasuke back to Konoha, where they recovered in hospital and Sasuke's seal had been sealed for a second time. _

_Or so they thought._

_It lay dormant for three years, letting everyone think that it had been truly sealed. The Sound had been unusual quiet. He had made it to Chuunin level along with Sasuke, Sakura, and many of the others. He had friends, ones who knew about the monster within him and didn't care. He had the whole world and then some. Life was the best it had ever been._

_And then suddenly, one day, Sasuke's supposedly sealed cursed seal was crawling its way all over his skin and the dark haired boy was destroying the village with a passion. Uchiha Sasuke unsealed and going beserk? Who ya gonna call? Uzumaki Naruto, of course!_

_He didn't really remember much of the beginning of the battle. All the usual tricks had failed or being copied by the Sharingan using sonuvabitch, were otherwise useless. He remember the ending though. Hokages, past, present, and future, did he remember. Just like the last time, he used Kyuubi's power. 'Foxed out' as Shikamaru had called it once on the extremely rare and private occasions when they discussed it. Unlike the last time, it hadn't been in a relatively secluded forest with only four other barely alive and friendly souls to witness it. It had been in the middle of Konoha proper with the whole damn village looking on in horror. _

_When he came back to his senses, Sasuke was unconscious on the ground, there was mass property damage all around them, villagers looked on and then ran away screaming as his confused glance aimed towards them. Kakashi-sensei, somehow in that mysterious Kakashi-sensei way he had, had been there to catch him as he passed out from sheer exhaustion and shock._

_The trial had been two days later and his exile from the village imposed three days after that. It had taken him sixteen years to build up the trust of Konoha and her villagers and had taken less than a week for his perfect world to come crumbling down around his ears. _

_Exile the monster. But what of Konoha's wonder boy? Oh, the poor innocent orphan. It wasn't his fault, of course. It was that nasty icky seal to blame. After all, if it weren't for that seal Konoha's Golden Boy would never ever attack the village or do anything so evil. Yeah. Right. If Sasuke hadn't known that second level seal wasn't properly sealed from day one, then Naruto had a cute fluffy bunny sealed inside him._

Sasuke stood up and walked forward, shaking Naruto out of his memories. Crimon eyes looked on him with the mild interest one normally gives an interesting bug of some sort. "Hello, Naruto. It's been, what? Ten years?"

Naruto grinned cheerfully. "Hiya Traitor! You seem to be suffering from an unfortunate case of living. I plan on curing that once you answer two questions."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow with a look of 'You're kidding me, right?'. The cheerful grin changed to dead seriousness, blue eyes went ice cold. "Where's Sakura-chan?"

"Dead, along with our son."

"Died in child birth?"

"No."

There was a long moment of silence.

"Did you kill her?"

"Isn't that three questions?"

"Answer me, you fucker!"

"No."

"Monosyllabic as always, aren't we?" The grin was back. "Now, about that second question…"

Sasuke gave him the 'I'm waiting you idiot' look that he knew so well from the past.

"Why am I here?"

The brunet cocked his head to the side. "I thought I'd give you a chance. In honor of the past and all that. The villagers obviously hate you, you were exiled for ten years, why protect them?"

"You're asking me to join you?" Naruto laughed "Oh, man…what the hell has that seal done to your brain? You _actually_ thought I'd say yes? I hate your fucking guts. You're the reason I was exiled in the first place, you bastard!!"

Sasuke didn't even twitch a muscle. "Actually, no. I didn't think you would, but I was under orders to ask and truthfully, we only want the demon fox. You alone are worthless, _dobe_." 

"You bastard, take that back or I'll…"

"Haven't grown much in ten years have you?"

The blonde's eyes had bled to dark purple, nearly red, with hatred, but as if a spell had been cast over the clearing neither moved. 

It was odd to see two men who defined themselves so much by their actions be at a complete standstill with each other. The air grew heavy and tense until an explosion and cries from the village echoed through out the forest. Both turned towards the noise, carefully keeping the other in sight should they try anything. 

Swirl of sand and wind formed into a redheaded young man next to Naruto. "Gaara? What happened? The Village…" snarling Naruto turned towards Sasuke. "You bastard you planned this!" Sasuke didn't move. "If I say 'no' I doubt you'll believe me."

"You've got some connection to it, Uchiha. There's a brat down there causing chaos with a sharingan." Gaara lay a pale hand on Naruto's shoulder. "It's Kizuko…"

The blonde spun, Sasuke forgotten. "What? What's wrong? You could take care of a sharingan user no problem…"

Gaara shook his head. "It's not that. I couldn't get to her in time…Naruto…she's foxed out." 

The color drained from the young man's face and unspeakable horror entered his blue eyes. Which quickly turned to fury as he cast a glare of pure malice in the direction of Sasuke, who had been silent. "I swear," came the growl, the hatred made his voice sound different and animalistic even to his own ears. "That if that brat harms her in any way, I will make Itachi look like a fluffy bunny at the petting zoo. Bet on it."

Sasuke didn't move, save a slight tightening of his fists. The two other shinobi hurried back to the village in a gust of wind and sand and leaves. The dark man looked towards the village, his fists tightening further as he muttered "Kaede…" And then he too, disappeared in gust of wind and leaves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Stupid fox!! Give up and die already!!"

The weird girl with the red eyes and the glowy arm charged at her again. Kizuko growled. This girl was _mean_!! She had charged into school, thrown Shinosuke into the bushes and kept coming after Kizuko. She was really nasty, Kizuko bet her Papa never taught her how important it was to be nice to people even if you don't like them like Papa and Gaara taught her. 

The little blonde jumped back and darted to the side, her arm hurting from where the girl's glowy arm almost hit her. This really wasn't fun, and this girl was mean, and Kizuko hurt from where the girl had hit her before, and she had lost Kon-Kon somewhere. She wanted Papa, she wanted Gaara, she wanted to go home, she wanted…she wanted…she wanted to rip this girl's throat out and feel the coppery blood slide down her own.

Chakra flared. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaede took a step back as the child in front of her began to change. She felt a tremendous amount of chakra rise up and cover the girl. The blue eyes went as red as her own, the whisker marks bled to a dark purple. Chakra swirled around the child, almost taking on the shape of an evil lupine-like face and nine tails. She could only describe the power around the child as…evil. 

She was scared.

This wasn't how it was suppose to happen!

She had heard the name Uzumaki hissed all her life in hatred. And now, here was this little Uzumaki, obviously the spawn of the elder, dangerous one. She could take her. The other was only a child, and better to take her out now before she became a thorn in their side. _She_ was Uchiha Kaede, daughter of the last surviving Uchiha, and wielder of the Sharingan and Chidori by age nine. She could _do_ this. At least that's what she had thought.

The foxgirl hissed and then moved towards her with incredible speed. She had grown claws, in the odd transformation it seemed and only the sharingan allowed Kaede to move to the side before those claws could decapitate her. Still she felt a sting and wet trickle down her cheek. Maybe she should run…the chakra was overwhelming. Maybe she should…no. She couldn't run. How could she face Otou-sama if she ran away from this little brat? She'd never be of any use to him if she ran. Only if she beat this Uzumaki. If she could beat the brat in front of her, he'd be so proud of her! 'Kaede', he'd say. 'You are my beloved daughter and most valuable ninja. You are a worthy heir for the Uchiha name.' It would be wonderful…and it would be hers. All she had to was beat the little one. 

With a determined grin, Kaede summoned forth the Chidori once more. The chakra ran across her arm, the sound of a thousand birds filled the air. Suddenly, the little fox was on her again and she threw her arm at the other girl. The fox dodged and chidori barely grazed its side where the wound immediately healed. Claws raked across her middle sending agonizing pain throughout her nervous system, fanged teeth snapped at her throat barely missing it. She jumped back from the fox, which hissed at her.

Crap! She had missed and she only had enough chakra left for one more…better make it count. Kaede charged the fox, who lunged and clawed her chest and sunk teeth deep into her left shoulder. She screamed in pain, but managed to bear it long enough to hit the fox at point blank with her chidori. It flew from her, taking a chunk of skin with it, back until it bounced against a large piece rubble and then fell to the ground and lay still. 

Wincing, she placed her right hand over the wound on her shoulder to stanch the bleeding and pulled out a kunai with her left hand. The fox was unconscious, so she had better kill it now. 

She limped towards the prone body and was about to thrust down the kunai, when darkness engulfed her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He had seen the older child with short black hair held back by a kerchief raise a kunai over his little girl's beaten body and nearly lost it. The only thing that saved his sanity at that point was that Gaara got there first. Sand flew and surrounded the girl, closing in on her fully. The redhead made the motion for the sand to squeeze the girl until they had a rain of blood, but Naruto held out an arm. 

"Don't kill her." 

Gaara gave him a funny look. The blonde looked determined, if slightly wicked.

"I want a shot at her first. Uncover her head."

Another motion and the sand parted revealing the girl's head. Naruto stepped forward, and the girl's eyes became very wide. 

"You hurt my daughter. You've proved you can hunt the kits, now can you handle the adults?" He raised a hand casually, air and chakra spinning lazily but steadily quicker with in his palm. "This is called 'Rasengan'. It can tear a thousand year old tree in half quicker than lighting. Now, let's imagine what this is going to do when I aim it at your face." 

The girl's face filled with fear. So much, that her sharingan faded and her eyes returned to normal. Emerald green eyes stared up at Naruto in terror. Familiar emerald green eyes, set in an Uchiha face. "Sakura-chan…" His expression fell, the chakra in his hand dispersing. 

There was a flash, a crack, and quicker than he could move the girl was gone from in front of him and several feet away in her father's arms. "Otou-sama, I…" Kaede bit her lip.

"Later." Sasuke didn't even look at her but kept his eyes on the two demons guarding their wounded kit. "Naruto, we've both got wounded to look after so this ends for today. We'll meet again."

"Yeah, and then I'm going to kick your ass! You and that brat of yours!!" the blonde called as the two Uchiha retreated. 

"Naruto."

"I swear, Sakura-chan's daughter or no, next I'm going to …"

"Naruto."

"And that Sasuke! Ten years and he hasn't changed at all…"

"Papa?" came the soft whimper

Immediately on Boo-boo alert, Naruto focused all his attention on the little form on the ground. "Papa's here, kitling." He glared at Gaara. "Why didn't you tell me she was awake?" The sand nin rolled his eyes heavenward in a silent plea for strength and moved to the left as something familiar caught his eye.

"Kizuko hurts."  
"I know, Kitling. And Papa will try to make it better. Are you cold, or does it just hurt?" He gently picked her up.

"Hurts…"

Naruto closed his eyes in a silent pray to whatever gods watched over demon vessels. The worst hadn't happened then, as he had feared it would with Gaara's report of her channeling the Kyuubi inside her.

"Kon-Kon…"

"Here." Gaara handed her a slightly singed, but still entact Kon-Kon. "He was hiding in the bushes." 

Kizuko snuggled closer to her Papa, wincing as she did, silent little tears making paths down her cheeks.

"Mean…"  
"I know she was, Kitling. And if I ever catch her near you again, Gaara and Papa are going to find out just how many cuts a human body can take before it dies."

"Generally, around two thousand."

Naruto paused. Looked at Gaara, opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and then shook his head. "No. I'm not even going to ask how you know that. Come on, Kitling, let's go see the doctor."

********************

Dear lord, it's done. There! Now you all know what happened! And yes, Cneko does not write fight scenes well. I know. ^^;;;

Ack! Poor Kizuko-chan…dun worry! She's got Papa's healing factor so she'll be driving Iruka-sensei crazy by tomorrow. 

And I killed off Sakura-chan….Wah! I'm really really sorry but it's kinda important for later on. I didn't want to…I like Sakura….she could be so awesome in the series if they'd only let her. God, just let Tsunade train her or something. I'm sorry, Sakura fans!! Please don't hate me! *cowers*

And Sasuke appears. Along with a surprise. Boy, he's rather hard to write.  Ha! I had you all fooled with the shadow didn't I? ^^ Yah, well….Kaede's got issues. Lots and lots of issues. Not the least being that she's desperately trying to please Otou-sama, because she's not the male heir he wanted.

 Interesting side note, Kaede means a type of maple tree in Japanese. I figure Sakura = cherry blossom/tree, why not stick with the tree naming system? ^^;;;;

And yes, I _swear_ Kaede is the last original character to be introduced. No more. I promise. It's just that Kizuko and Kaede both are rather important for the plot…And Shinosuke's gonna have a rather important role later on too….But I swear! That's all! Kaede's the last…

*runs off in case people decide that _now_ they will begin reaming her a new one*


	5. chapter 5

It's snowing outside and I've got two days before classes resume. I'll probably get more of this written once I start getting bored in them. ^^;; But for now, Kizuko-chan yells at me to write more.

Mwahaha! It continues!! However, I do believe it's time we took a look into the enemy base. ^_^  

Oh yes, spoilers for chapter 199 of the manga now. 

I'm going to assume that when His Snakiness took that poor bastard's body in that chapter he changed it to look like his own and can now use his hands again.

********

The waiting area was empty, except for them. So why was this taking so long? He had caught the nurses giving him some dirty looks but surely…Kizuko whimpered in her sleep. That was it.

Naruto approached the desk, his wounded kitling carefully held in his arms. "Excuse me…" 

The middle aged nurse on duty behind the desk gave him a look that could only be described as…venomous. "Yes?"

"Look, we've been waiting about 20 minutes and my daughter is badly injured, please can we see a doctor?"

The nurse's eyes dropped from one whiskered face to another, her lips pursed out farther. "I _told_ you, Mr. Uzumaki. There are no available doctors. Besides, I'm sure your demo…daughter will be fine if it…she doesn't receive medical attention right awa…" Whatever else the old bat was going to say was immediately cut off along with her air supply as sand formed a tight circle around her throat and began spinning tighter and tighter. Gaara walked up next to his blondes and gave the choking woman a bored look. "The quality of Konoha medical care has obviously fallen. Now, you _will_ find us a doctor for the child. And you will do it _quickly_." 

The woman's eyes were bulging out, but she quickly hit a button on the desk. 

The reaction was immediately. Footsteps quickly sounded down the hallway. Upon observing the scene, a gentle voice called out. "What's going on here?"

Gaara called back the sand and left the woman gasping at her post. Naruto turned towards the doctor and blinked. "Hinata?"

Pale eyes also blinked in shock. "Naruto-kun?" She then saw the wounded child in his arms and gasped. "My goodness! How long has she been like that? Why wasn't I called for immediately?" She gave the still gasping nurse a nasty look and then turned back to her patient. "Come, follow me and we'll get the little one patched up in no time." With that she turned quickly back down the corridor motioning for Naruto to follow her. Gaara walked behind them, pausing to give the woman at the desk a rather feral smirk before disappearing down the hallway. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kizuko was sleeping peacefully in a hospital bed within an hour. Abrasions and lacerations all bandaged and no sign of internal bleeding. Apparently the wounds had all looked worse than they actually were, according to Hinata. Naruto has his suspicions otherwise, but was grateful for a doctor's help. "How's her chakra level look to you?" he asked after she finished bandaging the last cut. Hinata had taken a step back and studied the little one on the bed in front of her for a moment. She was using the Byakkugan to study the chakra of a wounded person. Huh. Innovative use for it. No wonder she was a medical nin now. "It…you do know she has two different types of chakra forming to make one, don't you?" 

He nodded. "Yeah. That's normal for her."

Hinata smiled in relief. "Well, it's very odd but if it's normal for her, then I suppose she's at normal level then. Although, I'd like to keep her here overnight. Just for observation."

"Can we stay with her?"

"Of course. You are her father, after all." 

"That's good." He leaned over and kissed the sleeping girl gently on the forehead. Hinata stepped out of the room for a moment and he followed, giving Gaara  a 'I'll be right back' look.  The redhead remained stoic as ever.

"So, you're a doctor now? That's great. You were always good at making those herbal medicines." Naruto leaned against the wall and looked at the woman the shy girl he remembered had grown into. Her hair was longer now, almost as long as he remembered Neji's being, and she had traded in the bulky coat for a medical nin uniform. But she still blushed when he complimented her. It was kind of weird.

"Hai. I…Tsunade-sama trained me herself later on, after you…" She trailed off, then shook her head and smiled brightly. "You should come over for dinner one night, Naruto-kun. All three of you. I'm sure Kiba would love to see you and Kizuko-chan could play with the puppies we just had. And I could invite Neji-Niisan over and…"

Naruto blinked. "Whoa…whao…slow down. Kiba? Puppies?"

Hinata blushed deeply, looking at the floor, and held up her right hand to show a simple gold band. "I…I had a hard time after you left and Kiba was a good friend to me…and….well, the Inuzukas aren't on the same level as the Hyuugas but…"

"Better than an Uzumaki, huh?"

Her head shot up, sadness in those pupil-less eyes. "No! Father may have felt that way but I never did. Naruto-kun, you were better than anyone else in the village to me. You made me believe in myself when everyone else told me I was a failure. I…I…" She dropped her gaze back down to the floor again. "I cried for weeks after you were exiled. I liked you. _Really_ liked you. It took me several years to get over you…"

Naruto looked at her sadly. "I really liked you too, Hinata. And I really wish things had been different…but, I'm alright now. I wasn't for a long time but now, I've got people who love me and I love them. And you've got Kiba, now. So we're both happy as we are." 

"You were always so kind. And yes, I'm very happy with Kiba."

"So, um…puppies? I always knew Kiba as really a dog."

She laughed. "No, no. One of the dogs, Mei, just had a litter. Me having a litter of puppies! Really! Why I'd be happy if I could…" She got serious for a moment.

 "You really are very lucky, Naruto-kun. She's an adorable little girl. I wish I could have one." 

The blonde blinked very quickly in a clueless manner. Hinata smiled sadly. "I…we…I can't have children. That's the major reason why Father passed me over and gave leadership of the clan to my little sister." 

"Ack! Hinata, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories or topics or anything…" He patted her awkwardly on the shoulder.

She placed her own smaller hand over his, and shook her head. "No, no. It's quite alright…" Her eyes went wide. "Err…Naruto-kun…are you aware you have sand swirling around you?"

"Huh?" He looked down and saw quite a bit of sand swirling possessively around his body. "Excuse me a moment." He walked back into the room and glared at Gaara who looked rather innocent. Well, as innocent as Gaara can look.

"You know…as cute as the jealousy act can be, you don't need to go as far as the sand barrier to prove I'm taken."

"If I wanted to prove that you were taken, I'd rip off your clothes and ravish you there in front of her. And I am _not_ jealous." He kept his eyes firmly on wall across from him while saying all of this. 

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Would it help if I started wearing the hitae around my neck and got a tattoo stating 'Property of Gaara of the Desert' on my forehead?"

Silence.

"Well?"

"Hush. I'm thinking about it."

"That's it! I'm going to go finish my conversation with Hinata, _unmolested_ by sand, thank you very much." And the blonde walked through the door muttering the whole way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Sound base was dark, as usual. Kaede had spent the entire trip back in her father's arms as silent and still as she could possibly make herself. She had failed him yet again and he had to come rescue her. As he stalked down the familiar corridors she could feel the prickling sensation behind her eyes start up, but she forced it back.  She was an Uchiha. Uchihas don't cry.

He entered the infirmary and placed her on an examination table. "Kabuto-san," he called to the room's other occupant. She tried not to wince. He still wasn't acknowledging her presence. Kabuto-san came to stand next to her father, sparing her the most trifling of glances. "Sasuke-kun, what can I do for you? As if I really need to ask." 

Sasuke's dark head nodded briefly in her direction and then she watched as his form retreated and left the room. She turned her attention back to Kabuto-san who was already busy bandaging her left shoulder. "Well, you certainly got into quite a skirmish, Kaede-chan. I'm sure the other person looks much worse though." 

Kaede bit her lip and resolutely remained silent. She stared at the door across from her as Kabuto-san went about, bandaging this, using a healing jitsu there, until he proclaimed her as fit to return to her room. She turned to bow to him as much as possible in her current state, after all Okaasan had taught her to be polite. "Thank you, Kabuto-san."

He waved at her with one hand while adjusting his glasses with the other. "No problem, Kaede-chan. Just don't be so reckless next time; I'm sure it pains Sasuke-kun to see his daughter in such a state."

She smiled sadly and limped out the door. If only, if only…

Much to her surprise, he was waiting for her on the other side. Leaning against the wall, his arms crossed and head bowed, with one foot braced up against it. Would he still ignore her? Well, she had to try. "Otousama…"

He lifted his head to look at her and pushed off against the wall to stand in front of her. Dark eyes did a quick tally of all of her injuries being attended to and then he nodded to himself once. 

"Otousama…I…"

Quicker than she could see, a hand lashed out and slapped her so hard she cried out and was forced a step back. Wide emerald eyes looked up, filled with unshed tears as she held a hand to her stinging cheek. He was mad at her. Very very mad. He was frowning and his dark eyes were stormy. "Kaede, please explain to me what the _hell_ you thought you were doing out there."

"I…Otousama…He has a daughter!! I overheard the villagers when I was on reconnaissance and I saw her. I thought…I thought that if I could go ahead and get rid of the little one that would be one less for us to worry about later on. I wanted to help you." She prayed her voice didn't truly sound as whiney as it did in her own ears. 

He was very quiet for a moment, simply just looking down upon her. And then, "You _thought_ you would help back taking out the younger before she could become a problem? Did you ever stop to think how Naruto would react when he found out you killed his daughter?"

She opened her mouth to reply, but he continued onwards, ignoring her. "No, of course, you didn't. That would be too much for me to hope for. I was supposed to be attempting to convince him to join us or to kill him, and now thanks to your stupidity, he will most definitely be not and is still most definitely alive. And I now have to go report Orochimaru-sama why. You're an Uchiha. Start acting like one."

She bowed deeply, letting her bangs cover her eyes. "Hai, Otousama. Gomen nasai." She remained bowing until he walked past her.

Somehow, she managed to hold off the tears until she limped back to the little room that had been assigned to her. Still holding them back, she locked the door behind her and walked over to the bed. Which she promptly threw herself on and cried until she could cry no more. Then, carefully taking off the kerchief that held back her raven hair, she took of her most precious possession and held it close to her. 

It was old, and the blue cloth was faded, but to her it was the most beautiful thing in the world. Her mother's hitae. She traced the symbolized leaf in the metal band with a trembling finger. If she held the blue cloth to the face she could still faintly smell her mother's scent of cherry blossoms. Otousama didn't know she had this. No one knew she had it. It was hers, her only link to her mother.

"Okaasan…I don't know what do to…I try so hard…why can't I ever please him?"

Kaede remembered her mother. Her mother was sweet and full of light, a total contrast to her father. Her mother taught her to always be polite and that she was Uchiha, which was something to always be proud of. Okaasan had loved her more than anything, except perhaps Otousama. She had been happy, and she knew Otousama had too, even if he never really said or expressed it. But…her mother was dead now. She had been caught by the Konoha hunter nin five years ago along with Kaede's newly born little brother, Nobutada. 

She remembered catching Otousama gripping Okaasan's hitae so tightly that the corners of the metal plate cut into his hand and caused blood to drip to the floor. She remembered hearing him whisper "Why Sakura? Why Nobutada?" over and over until he finally screamed in rage and hurled the hapless object into a dark corner of the room. Later, she had snuck in and collected the hitae. No one knew she had it. There had still been a few precious strands of pink hair on it and she had collected those and stored them in a little box that was hidden in her room. She wore it just like Okaasan use to, but beneath her kerchief so it would stay hidden. It was her treasure and Okaasan always watched over her with it.  So why?

"What should I do, Okaasan? How can I make him proud of me?"

The only answer she got was the same as she always got. A faint scent of cherry blossoms drifting through the air.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, you're saying the Kyuubi brat isn't dead. Nor is he joining us." The man on the throne folded his hands together as the younger shinobi below him reported.

"My daughter foolishly disrupted the mission in her own misguided attempts to help us by killing Naruto's daughter, Orochimaru-sama." Sasuke kept his eyes firmly on the ground in front of him.

"I…see. I trust the little one is dead then?"

"I can not say for sure. Uzumakis are notoriously hard to kill."

"As well I know. I assume your misguided child has been set straight, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hai. I've seen to her myself." His seal throbbed but he did not move a muscle. Any movement could well mean death for Kaede.

"Hmmm…I was hoping to get rid of the Kyuubi before we move. I suppose I'll have to do it myself then. Although, this body really isn't as useful as it used to be. It certainly will not be able to journey to Konoha _and_ take on the Nine Tail's vessel.... Sasuke-kun, look at me."

Sasuke raised his head to his master. The man on the throne looked old. He didn't remember Orochimaru-sama's current body looking so aged. This was not a good sign. The snake studied him intently. 

"Yessssss. You've grown quite powerful over the years, Sasuke-kun. I do believe it's time to repay me for the power I've given you."

Something cold grabbed Sasuke's heart. This was it then. His fated day had finally come. He wished to run, to scream out, but this was as his master wished so what could he do other than obey?

"As you wish, Orochimaru-sama."

"Go find Kabuto and make the preparations."

"Hai, Orochimaru-sama."

Neither noticed the small shadow disappear from where it had been watching in front of the crack in the doors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, no…Oh no…Okaasan, what do I do? Orochimaru-sama is going to take Otousama's body because I screwed up when he was trying to kill the kyuubi. This is my fault…What can I…." 

Kaede paced back and forth in her room, muttering to herself. She then stopped. "Wait…Orochimaru-sama said he couldn't journey to Konoha and take on the nine tails both…but maybe if I can bring the kyuubi to him…Maybe then he'll spare Otousama." Determination filled her eyes, and she ran out the door and down the hallway.

"Kabuto-san." She called upon entering the infirmary. He adjusted a few wicked looking medical instruments and then turned to her. "Yes, Kaede-chan, how can I help you?" 

She tried to look as adult as possible. "Kabuto-san, I need some wards. As powerful as possible on short notice and lots of them."

The medical nin looked rather surprised. "Wards? What are you going to do with wards, Kaede-chan?"

She looked up at him, Sharingan eyes glowing crimson, and smiled viciously.

"I'm going to go fox hunting."

********************

Lalalala….I suck at writing Orochimaru….Lalalala….I suck at writing Hinata….lalalala….and that end really didn't turn out how I wanted it. Sigh. Oh well.

Hmmm….too much Kaede in this part I think, but it was kinda needed. I mean, hey, now you know what's going on and how she feels about all it…right? (Oh dear god, please please please don't let me be falling into the Mary Sue trap….please, please, please….)

And, what happened to Sakura revealed! Or so I'll let you all think. Hehehehe. I named their son Nobutada after my favorite character in _The Last Samurai_. Which is a kick ass film that I highly recommend, btw. ^^;;


	6. chapter 6

I live!!! I swear! And I finally got around to updating. Seriously, I think it was the trip to Japan over spring break and the massive amount of Naruto doujinshi purchased that did the trick. Ah well.

I apologize for the severe lack of Gaara-ness in this chapter. I tried to fix it towards the end, however, I haven't written on this in a while and Snarky!Gaara takes a bit of time for me to get in the mode of writing for.

I do believe the end is neigh…perhaps another chapter or two. Ack. What shall I do then?

Enjoy and onward, peeps!

**************

Naruto was in the kitchen making curry, mostly due to the fact that Gaara was threatening to spend a week on the couch if he had to endure one more bowl of ramen.  He had been standing over the steaming pot, stirring the liquid inside when he felt it. It was much like an electric shock running straight up his spine and into his mind. An eerie feeling of anxiety and loss. The demon inside of him paced restlessly, clawing and keening at her cage.

Something was very wrong. 

Barely remembering to turn off the stove first, he ran to the master bedroom and ducked out the window onto a branch of the ancient oak next to it. Reaching out with all his senses, the blonde desperately searched out for that one particular chakra that was so distinct among Konoha. "Gaara!"

The cry echoed across the rooftops, even as he kept moving, speeding forward, needing to find, _desperate_ to find…

And suddenly, it was next to him in a red and tan blur that became a figure as the two stopped on a rooftop. Green eyes looked at him questioningly. 

"Are you alright?"

Naruto didn't answer, but merely enveloped the other man in an embrace. No, it wasn't here. No damage. The mate was fine, which meant it was the…

"Kitling." The word came as hollow whisper, echoing in haunted blue eyes.

"What?" Something was clearly wrong and it was affecting his Kitsune. Gaara could feel Shukaku wake and begin to uncoil within his mind. Naruto looked at him with panicked eyes. "The Academy. Kizuko. Something's wrong."

They sped off along the path to the Academy. Halfway there, a voiced called them from behind. "Naruto! Gaara!"

Turning, the pair found Shikamaru racing towards them. "We've got a problem. Come on." With that he turned and raced in the opposite direction leaving the blonde and redhead to catch up.

~~~~~~~~~~~

They followed Shikamaru to Konoha Hospital and through the labyrinth of hallways until they came to a stop right outside a room near the emergency center. Naruto was beginning to resemble a cornered animal, and was still seeking out his kit's chakra with all of his might. 

"Shikamaru, please, what's wrong? Why're we here? Where the hell is Kizuko?!!"

The jounin took a deep breath and met his friend's eyes. "I don't know exactly what happened, however…" He was cut off by the slamming of the door opening and an icy voice.

"What happened is that my baby is lying barely conscious in a hospital bed because of that bastard's demon spawn."

Nara Ino stood in the door way, her blue eyes blazing with a mother's fury. Anguish and hatred rolled off her in almost palpable waves. Naruto and Shikamaru both took an involuntary step back, while Gaara's sand formed a mild barrier over him. 

"Ino…what…I don't…" The whiskered blonde began, but was cut off as Ino dove at him with a shriek.

"Don't you _dare_!! You monster!! This is all _your_ fault, you and that demon spawn of yours!!" She grabbed him by the collar of his vest, tears running down her cheeks. Naruto could only stare at her wide eyed. Gaara narrowed his eyes, ready to encase the hysteric woman in a coffin of sand if necessary.

"Ino..." Shikamaru made a move to pull his wife off, but she pushed him off and continued.

 "Shinosuke made the mistake of befriending her and just _look_ where it's gotten him!! They should have _never_ let you back into the village, you demon!"

"_Ino_!!" Shikamaru rarely ever raised his voice, but when he did, people listened. He pulled his wife away from a still shocked Naruto, and held her as she turned and sobbed into his chest. 

"…dun yell at Uzumaki-san, 'Kaachan…" Came the weak voice from inside the room.

"Shinosuke!" Ino quickly ran to her son's side. The little boy was bandaged heavily around the middle and sported a bandage around his head and over one cheek. He looked at them through swollen lids. 

"Kaachan's here, sweetie. Now tell her who did this so she can go destroy them."

" 'm fine, Kaachan…but…" Shinosuke looked up at Naruto and Gaara, and then down at the covers, tears filling his eyes. "I'm sorry, Uzumaki-san. I tried, I really did…I tried Kagemane no Jitsu, but it didn't work…and kunai…and…I couldn't save her. I couldn't stop the other girl, she had this glowy arm and weird eyes…and …and she slapped these paper things on Kizuko 'n made her scream 'n I tried to stop it…I really did…'n I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough and that Kizuko got hurt and …and…Get her back, okay? Cuz…cuz we've got a test in Iruka-sensei's class next week…and…I'll have no one to play with…and she's my friend…and I'm sorry could save her! I really really sorry!" He tried to hold back a sob as a few tears trickled down his cheeks.

"That's enough, Son. You did good." Shikamaru placed a hand on his son's head. "He had that in his hand when we found him." He indicated to the badly damaged Kon-Kon that lay next to Shinosuke on the bed. Naruto made an odd whimper at the sight and then went silent.

 "Naruto, what are you…" He turned to face the other man and saw the shadowed eyes and the purple whisker marks. Chakra blazed and every light along the hallway suddenly flared and broke. Naruto lifted his head to reveal eyes the color of fresh blood and snarled "Tell Tsunade." He then bolted out of the room and hospital. 

Gaara smiled a very not nice smile. Shukaku was awake, demanding blood, and he was eager to deliver. "We're going Uchiha hunting. Tell the Hokage to follow if she doesn't want them all massacred. But I don't promise that won't happen either way." With that, he followed his mate towards their missing kit.

Shinosuke blinked. Whoa. Could Kizuko do that too? Cool. "Oyaji…how's Godaime-sama gonna know where they're going?"

Shikamaru sighed. "We'll just follow the trail of mass destruction."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sasuke knelt in front of his master. His time was up and there was no other way around it. Briefly, he wondered if Kaede would be taken care of. After all, Orochimaru-sama really had no use for women other than as weapons and Kaede had far too much of her mother in her to ever be considered an appropriate weapon. Well, either way, she was an Uchiha. She would figure out some way to survive.

"Are you prepared, Sasuke-kun?"

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."

"Very well then. Let's proceed to the operating room, shall we?"

"As you wish, Orochimaru-sama." He rose, keeping his eyes on the ground when a noise made him pause. The creak of the door opening, something shuffling through, and then a young female voice calling out "Orochimaru-sama, please wait."

Sasuke groaned internally. Did the child have a death wish? He tried to protect her only to have her turn around and run head first into situations that could end only in her own foolhardy demise. Had her mother been this stupid? He tried to recall as he closed his eyes against the inevitable sight of his master killing his foolish offspring for the offense. Therefore, he was very much surprise when the next sound he heard was Orochimaru-sama's voice.

"Ah. Kaede-chan. What could be so important that you would ask your father and I to delay our scheduled appointment?"

Sasuke dared to raise his eyes at that point. Kaede knelt before Orochimaru's throne, her head lowered, an odd shaped lump next to her. Orochimaru looked on with an expression Sasuke could only describe as…amused. Much like a snake watching a newly hatched chick.

"I…I bring you a gift, Orochimaru-sama." She shifted the bundle so that it lay in front of her, and Sasuke saw that it was a child. And not just any child. It was a small unconscious child with blonde pigtails and whisker marks, who was mostly covered in powerful wards. His daughter had kidnapped Uzumaki Naruto's child. Ancestors help him, he _had_ raised an idiot. 

"Th…This is the daughter of Uzumaki Naruto. She has the power of the Kyuubi, I've seen it with my own eyes." Kaede continued, scooting away from her offered gift and hoping her voice was not as weak as it sounded.

Cold, yellow eyes watched her, studying her, the Uzumaki brat, and Sasuke all at once. Orochimaru then 'hmmm'ed. "Ah. I see. The Kyuubi will follow its Kit, bringing him to me, thus saving me a trip, and I can use the power of the fox within this little one as well. That is your reasoning, is it not, Kaede-chan?"

"A..As Orochimaru-sama says."

Sasuke held his breath as Orochimaru did not mention what was probably his daughter's _main_ reasoning behind this insanity. To save him. He resisted the urge to go beat his head against the nearest wall. His internal turmoil was distracted by a very odd sound. Orochimaru-sama was laughing.

"Very well, Kaede-chan. Since you are so earnest about it, I accept your gift. Sasuke-kun, it appears that since the Kyuubi will be coming to _me_, our little appointment will have to be postponed."

His daughter's foolish gamble worked? He wasn't sure whether to be amazed or angry at her. Instead, he settled for a neutral, "As you wish, Orochimaru-sama" complete with bow.

Orochimaru stepped down to stand before the unconscious fox kit and studied the child intently. 

"Kaede-chan, go fetch Kabuto. I wish to inspect my gift."

"Hai, Orochimaru-sama." The small, kerchief covered head bowed deeply, then rose and left the room. 

Orochimaru then turned his gaze upon the room's other occupant. "Sasuke-kun, do wake the dear child up. Those wards are probably causing her terrible pain."

Sasuke bowed and then knelt before the girl, carefully removing the wards that where binding her. As he removed the final one from her forehead, she began to whimper and then slowly, baby blue eyes opened. 

"Papa!" she cried, sitting up and then looked at him with fear. "You…you're not Papa. Where's Papa? And Gaara! And Shinosuke! The mean girl hurt Shinosuke!" Tears began to leak from her eyes as she looked around frantically. "Where is Kizuko? Kizuko….Kizuko wants…I want Papa!!" She scurried backwards until she hit a corner of the room. 

Sasuke watched the girl, a strange feeling rising in his chest as he remembered being that young and believing that if your parents were there everything would be alright. And then having it all ripped away cruelly. He nearly reached out to her but kept control over himself as Orochimaru stepped forward. Silted eyes slide over the girl, meeting her own blue eyes and holding them in a trance as a snake holds it next meal. 

"Now, now. Don't cry. Papa will be here soon." He smiled softly and gently patted the golden head. "And as soon as I'm done I'll give you his corpse."

Kizuko could only whimper in response.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto had picked up Kizuko's scent as well as the Uchiha brat's within Konoha and had no trouble following it through the surrounding forest. Few other signs appeared along the way. The Uchiha brat was good. He was better. Kyuubi roared for blood, vengeance and the return of their kit. He was in agreement on all three. 

Gaara raced along side him, a red and tan blur to compliment his own black and blonde. Occasionally they would glance at each other, a silent communication that always ended in identical feral grins. No one messed with their family. Not and lived anyway. 

They followed the scents to a compound that would have been nearly half a day away from Konoha at normal speed and traveling around obstacles. Good thing they were demons with enhanced speed and no concern for property damage. 

Orochimaru must have been damned cocky to set up base this close to the village. If there had been wards or traps on the way, they hadn't survived the combined chakra of two enraged demons. Therefore, they were pausing outside of a large set of wooden gates.

"Well, how do you suppose we should enter?" Gaara asked, although he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

"Like this. _Rasengan_!"  Naruto held a hand up…And there was suddenly no more large set of wooden gates.

"Of course. What ninja needs stealth when they've got brute strength?"

"Fight now. Sarcasm later."

"Couldn't hurt to do both at once."

"……."

"We'll find her, Naruto."

Naruto grinned his own version of Gaara's 'I'm a Psycho Who's About to Hurt You for Fun and Profit' grin. "I know. And then we're going to show them why we're called 'demons', na?"

"Exactly."

Blue eyes met green, and the sounds of Sound Nin preparing to attack the intruders carried through the nonexistent gate.

"Well, then. Shall we dance?" Naruto bowed and offered his arm to the Sand nin, who scowled.

"I'm not a damned woman."

"How well I know." Came the leer.

"So shut up and fight."

"Sigh. You're so boring, Gaara-chan!" Kunai to the throat of one Sound.

"Call me 'chan' ever again and you can sleep on the couch." Another Sound gone to a Suna Shuriken.

"Ah! Meanie!" Rasengan to face of one that got in a little close.

"Oh, look. Here comes the next wave."

"Hmm…think we should get serious?"

"At least mildly. There are quite a lot of them."

"Geez. Ruin all the fun, don't they? Ah, well….Kage Bunshin no Jitsu!!"  
"Sabaku Kyuu!"

~~~~~~~~~~

A Sound Jounin entered the room and bowed before Orochimaru.

"Orochimaru-sama, the two demons are here and are doing heavy damage to our forces."

"Hold them off for the time being." He waved the messenger away.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama." The messenger bowed and disappeared.

Orochimaru turned to the little blonde huddled in the corner. "Your father is here."

Kizuko pouted at him. "You're a very very mean man, and Papa and Gaara are going to kick your butt."

On the other side of the room, Sasuke suppressed a shudder. It was very creepy to hear Orochimaru-sama laugh twice in one day.

*****************

Whew. Man, I still can't write Orochimaru to save my life. I keep trying to channel Voldemort or something.

Hehehe. Shinosuke has his shining moment. I sense quite a cute future together for those two.

And I know Ino may have come across as harsh, but come on. She's a mom who's desperately worried about her baby boy and is lashing out at the closest one available for blame.

Well, I certainly hope I managed to take the spotlight off Kaede and Kizuko for a bit in this chapter. Also, I apologize for the severe lack of kewl fight scenes. I just can't do them very well. 

One major question though. I have several cute little one shots of the kids/family in my head that would take place after the story. Would anyone be interested in reading those? Even if it was only say…Kizuko and Shinosuke? Perhaps Kaede?


	7. chapter 7

Hey, look. The rest of it finally came to me. Because, squee! Hot Damn! I finally got to see the Kitsune vs. Tanuki battle animated! Yeah, baby!!

However…damn this chapter is long. And rather clichéd in parts too I'm ashamed to admit. Oh, and vague. Very vague in parts. I can't write fight scenes to save my life, remember? And I apologize if it seems like this was written in two different styles. It's because I had started this and then stopped and then finished it later on. I hope it's not too terribly distracting.

Definitely only one chapter left after this. Perhaps an epilog. Not exactly sure, but anyways, onward!!

**********

Tsunade was not happy upon hearing the latest news.

Over folded hands, she surveyed the young men gathered in her office. Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Neji, Akimichi Chouji, and Inuzuka Kiba. It was like deja vu all over again minus one.

"Hail, hail, the gang's all here." Muttered Kiba as he viewed the others.

Tsunade leaned back in her chair with a sigh. She could understand the brat's reasoning behind all this, but she really was going to beat the hell out of him once she got her hands on him. "Gentlemen, thank you for coming. I summoned you because a situation has come up. One that, given your past history together, I believe you are the best suited to deal with. Nara-kun, if you would, please." 

Shikamaru stepped forward and looked into the faces of his friends and soon to once again be teammates. "We all know Naruto's back. And The Sound have been feeling us out lately with Uchiha Sasuke as their number one weapon. So if we put two and two together from that, we get?"

The other three responded in perfect unison. "Property Damage."

"Exactly."

Tsunade shook her head. Sad, yet true. Eternal rivalry unfortunately also meant property insurance values in Konoha were going to skyrocket. She really was going to smack that boy upside the head when she found him.

Chouji made a vague noise of confusion. "What about that other rumor I heard? You know, the one about him not coming back alone. The village gossips are all abuzz about the evil incarnate with blonde pigtails running around."

"Bah. Those nosey biddies have no clue what they're talking about." Kiba snorted. "Hinata patched up the chibi after that incident outside the Academy and she says she's never seen a sweeter little girl. Never met the kid, but I'm sure as hell not about to take village gossip over my own wife's first hand account." 

Neji nodded his agreement.

Shikamaru glanced at Chouji. "You know how gossips are. Particularly when things involve an Uzumaki. Trust me, she's a good kid. Shinosuke wouldn't be so attached otherwise." He frowned, looking slightly distant for a moment. "Which brings me to the issue at hand. Uchiha kidnapped Kizuko-chan, hurting my son in the process, don't even get me started on how Ino's acting because of that. Anyway, Daddy foxed out after hearing the new and went tearing after her, Gaara of the Desert hot on his heels."

They all went silent for a moment after that. Naruto 'foxed out', as they called it, was a truly awesome and terrible sight and for the briefest moments they might have felt a small bit of pity for Sasuke. Well…maybe. Shikamaru still wasn't decided on that front after seeing his son in a hospital bed.

"So we go after him." Chouji concluded. Tsunade nodded. 

"I'd go with you myself, however you understand the position I'm in." she said softly "Just bring them all back, Uchiha Sasuke too if you can."

Neji, however, was frowning. His brows furrowed in confusion. "One thing I don't understand. Kidnapping doesn't seem Uchiha's style. Maybe it's all the time spent with The Sound, but…"

"Sasuke seemed to decide to spawn as well. Kidnapping may not be his style but it does seem to be his daughter's." Shikamaru drawled.

"So…we've got to deal with a foxed out Naruto, that creepy sand guy, and _two_ Uchiha's now?" said Kiba, looking rather serious.

Shikamaru nodded grimly. "And don't forget the mini Uzumaki."

 Kiba then bust out into a grin. "So, what are we waiting for?"

"If I may make one suggestion." Tsunade spoke up and the others turned to her respectfully. "Take a medical nin with you. Someone is inevitably going to be injured, be it yourselves or that blockhead you're going after, and a medical nin in the group could make all the difference. As I said, I would go myself but I can't. However, I can suggest a very skilled medical nin." She finished with a proud grin aimed towards Kiba and Neji, who grinned just as proudly in return.

"Hinata-sama is not on duty today, right, Kiba?" 

Kiba smirked. "Nope. In fact once we tell her that A) Naruto is involved and that B) a child is in trouble, I doubt we'd be able to _stop_ her from coming. We can pick her up at the house on our way out of the village."

"Well then. Good luck to you all." Tsunade said, dismissing them.

And so they went, following the trail of mass property damage.

~~~~~~~~~~

You know…from up high they looked like ants. Tiny little Sound ants getting squished by a giant froggy. He nearly giggled from his seat on the back of Gama Bunta. Hmm…must be reaching that shocked, detached state. Every thing seemed kinda funny, even though it wasn't. 

The silly sound ninjas that kept attacking him seemed sort of funny, even though they mostly met their ends burned alive by chakra or with pretty red chunks spread to the wind by a Rasengan. But it wasn't.

The heady feel of Kyuubi's chakra rushing through him and her clawing and banging away at the tightly sealed bars of her cage seemed sort of funny, even though it meant he was getting a migraine from having to control her and himself. But it wasn't.

Most of all, the fact that they really and truly thought they could hide his kit from him was drop dead rolling on the floor laughing my ass off funny. He'd gone through Hell and severe chakra depletion just so she could be _born_ and they thought they could take her from him and _hide_ her from his senses? That they could _stop_ him from getting back his own flesh and blood and chakra?  Okay, that _was_ funny. So he laughed. He laughed long and loud. 

He would have kept on laughing but a fist decided to lodge itself in his cheek. 

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

"You were getting hysterical." 

"What? I'm not a woman. I _wasn't_ getting hysterical."

The redhead gave him a look. The blonde sighed and stood, surveying the surroundings. It wasn't a pretty picture. Corpses and destroyed buildings surrounded him. Looking at the corpses, he felt rather guilty all of the sudden. And fortunately, Gaara knew that look.

"They stole her. They hurt Shikamaru's child when he tried to protect her, and they put _wards_ on her and stole her away from us."

Yup. That did the trick. No more guilt.

"Oi. Are you two having a tea party up there or what?" A loud voice boomed from beneath them, sending vibrations up through their bodies.

Naruto hopped down from the massive toad's back and grinned up at him. "Nah, I think we finished off the tea. Thanks, Boss. I owe you one."

"Hell, Kid. I was beginning to wonder if you were even still alive I hadn't heard from you in so long. Suppose you're still gonna be around to make trouble for us for awhile." With that, Gama Bunta disappeared in a puff of smoke to where ever it was summons went when they weren't summoned.

Gaara stood by his side as they looked at the entrance into the main building. It was dark, and there were faint voices inside. In there. That's where his kitling was. He could feel it. He slammed one fist into the palm of his other hand, cracking his knuckles. "Let's go."

~~~~~~~~~~~

They made their way through the long dark corridors of the base, like crawling through the belly of a large overgrown snake. Every now and again a foolish Sound jounin or chuunin would attempt to attack the two young men with blood splattered clothes and vicious grins, who glowed so brightly with not quite human chakra in this dark place. The bodies usually made a sort of hollow _thud_ as they disappeared into the darkness of the corridor.

Instinctively, the blonde knew which ways to turn within the twisting labyrinth. Whether to go right or left, to turn here or continue on straight, it was all second thought to him. Kyuubi's greater sense of smell and the feel of chakra coming dimly through the passage ways led him towards the main audience chamber and his kitling as easily as throwing a kunai. Gaara was beside him, a silent shadow, and Naruto could tell that the redhead was just as eager for the sight of Kizuko's small body and the blood of her captors as he was. After all, she had stopped being just _his_ a long time ago. 

He led them to a set of double doors and they paused outside a moment. Their eyes met and held, and Naruto reached out, tangling his fingers with Gaara's pale ones. 

"The snake's in there, Sasuke and that damned daughter of his probably too. I've seen the Snake fight before and even the Ero-senin and Bachan had a hard time taking him on. We're going to get her back, but don't get dead in the process. I've kinda gotten use to having you around."

The redhead squeezed his hand. "Same to you."

A deep breath, a push, and the doors opened.

~~~~~~~~~~

Kaede and Kabuto returned moments before, and the medical nin was now taking a great deal of interest in poking at the little kitsune, fascinated by the different sorts of chakra and the uniqueness of the specimen. At least until the little one tried to bit him. That had earned her a fond smile and the shallow slide of a kunai against her throat in warning. She had whimpered after that, but held very still.

"It's quite amazing," he said, turning to Orochimaru-sama and adjusting the glasses on the bridge of his nose. "It's not that the demon is sealed within her, so much as she _is_ part demon herself. She has the chakra of both the Kyuubi and Naruto-kun, but she appears to blend the two together to form a unique chakra that is all her own. That's what keeps her alive and growning as opposed to a clone that just relies on its creator's chakra." 

Orochimaru 'hmmm'ed and looked at Kizuko speculatively before fixing his eyes on the large set of double doors at the end of the room.

Sasuke wasn't exactly sure how he had expected Naruto to make his entrance but it certainly wasn't like this. An explosion, perhaps. A puff of smoke and a good thousand _kagebunshin_ clones swarming the room, yes. A scream of anger and a thoughtless assault, most definitely. However, the one thing he had never expected was a cool pushing open of the doors to the main room and the calm stride at which both demon vessels had entered before pausing a little less than midway from the end of the room where Orochimaru stood, looking rather bemused by this all.

"I see the Nine Tails has learned patience over the years." 

"The Nine Tails wants his daughter back and is then going to send you to which ever hell you prefer."

Orochimaru shook his head, sadly. "Young people these days, no respect for their elders whatsoever."  Yellow slitted eyes drifted over to Gaara. "I remember you. The young Sand nin that everyone feared, correct? Hmm…well, this _is_ interesting. I suppose even demons have to stick together sometimes. I don't suppose I could interest you in a change of sides? Free range to kill and mangle as much as you please. Plus a good deal of power once I am rid of the Leaf. Just get rid of the Kyuubi for me." 

Gaara looked rather bored all things considered. "Thanks, but I've got him trained how I like, and I doubt you're as good in bed as he is. I'll have to decline."

Naruto blushed bright red at this. Sasuke was defiantly scarred by mental images he could have done without, and Kizuko was a bit puzzled by that but it was okay because Papa and Gaara were here now and the mean snake man was going to get his butt kicked.

Orochimaru shrugged elegantly. "I figured as much. Not that it really matters anyway. Kabuto, Sasuke-kun."

The two moved so that they were between their master and the two demons.

"Papa!" Kizuko started to run towards her parents, but Kaede appeared in front of her, sharingan eyes glowing.

"Don't move." The older girl hissed. "Or the only way you get to see Papa is dead."

Kizuko looked up, her bottom lip protruding. "You're mean."

Kaede smiled. "No. I'm an Uchiha."

~~~~~~~~~~

Gaara's eyes flickered from the blonde beside him, to the two in front of him, to Kizuko and the Uchiha brat over on right. Shukaku growled within his mind, and he could feel the blood lust welling up. He didn't particularly want his existence to disappear, but without Naruto and Kizuko around there wouldn't be much to exist for.  They were his important people. It was worth risking it for them.

"Naruto," he said quietly. "I'm tired. But don't let me sleep too long, okay?"

The now red eyes went impossibly wide. "You don't mean…"

Gaara turned and gave a brief smile. A rare, true smile. "I'll take care of these two. You get Kizuko."

Naruto nodded slowly and took a step backwards. Gaara turned to his opponents and smirked. Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized what was coming.

"You're not…"

The redhead continued smirking. "You're a bastard and I want this over quickly. Consider it a privilege I'm using this. Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu!"

And with that, Gaara fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~

Naruto ran over to the children. Nearly there, he felt a sharp pain. Looking down seemed to show that somehow he had managed to acquire a _shoto_ through the right shoulder. Well…ow. Turning he saw Orochimaru smiling happily at him, sheath in hand. 

"Papa!"

His little girl was crying and attempting to reach him, but the older girl was holding her back, her own face flush with fear as she watched her father battle the sand demon. And the Snake, damn him, was internally laughing at them all. Gritting his teeth in pain, the blonde grabbed the blade of the sword and pushed it out of his shoulder until there was enough out that he could reach behind and pull the rest free. He placed a hand over the wound and felt Kyuubi's chakra wrap around him, concentrating on the opening. The feel of steam through his fingers alerted and he glared at Orochimaru as the wound healed itself almost immediately. 

"Papa…" Kizuko whimpered again.

This time he reached out for her, but for all his demon speed, the Snake was faster and got to her first. Orochimaru pulled the little girl to him, her back against his legs, long razor like nails poised under her chin and across her neck ready to jerk quickly and dribble the little one's life blood down the front of the orange and blue jacket she wore. Naruto growled and grabbed the Uchiha girl in response, his own claw like hands around her throat. The two men and girls faced each other down as Shukaku react havoc in the background, causing the roof to cave in and debris to scatter and fly. 

"Let Kizuko go. Or else the Uchiha brat dies." The blonde growled, his voice rough with the power of the demon fox.

"Orochimaru-sama…" Kaede whispered within his grasp.

 "Oh, by all means, kill the girl. She doesn't mean anything to me, and we only tolerate her because she can be useful on occasion." Orochimaru didn't so much as twitch and kept Kizuko held tightly against him.

Kaede's eyes faded to their normal green, going wide and then back to normal size. She really couldn't expect otherwise from Orochimaru-sama. And if she died, well, at least it would be in service to him, which perhaps would make Otou-sama happy. She tried to glance back to where her father was fighting the sand demon but found she couldn't move her head at all. 

"Kaede!" 

~~~~~~~~~~

This, Sasuke decided, was a definite pain in the ass. He was at level two of his seal and the demon was still wiping the floor with them. The just needed to get close enough to wake up the medium. Well, it sounded easy in theory. Of course last time it had taken the blonde idiot and a giant toad to do it, but damnit all he was Uchiha Sasuke. Not the punk ass kid he'd been back then. He'd grown since then. He could do this.

"Kabuto-san, we need to wake up the redhead."

"Easier said than done, Sasuke-kun."

"I'll distract him, you get up there. A punched worked last time, it should work again."

Chidori after Chidori after Chidori. One would think it should have had some effect. Well, it did seem to have the effect of annoying the tanuki but that's not exactly what he'd been going for. He quickly dodged an air ball of chakra. Damnit if he could only…

A brief flicker out of the corner of his eye and he turned towards the other side of the room. Orochimaru-sama had the little Uzumaki and …and Naruto had his daughter by then neck so tightly that blood was running down her throat in shallow little rivulets.

"Oh, by all means, kill the girl. She doesn't mean anything to me, and we only tolerate her because she can be useful on occasion." He heard Orochimaru-sama say and his heart froze. Because he _knew_ Naruto would do it. Naruto was a father trying to get back his only daughter, and because of that he do _anything_. Sasuke knew because he was a father himself. And he'd do _anything_ to get his daughter, his last link to the light, out of danger. Shukaku forgotten, he raced towards the right of the room. 

"Kaede!"

He tackled Naruto, wrenching Kaede from his grasp. Gripping the blonde by the front of his vest, he delievered a Chidori to the stomach. A killing blow level, at point blank range Chidori to the stomach. The blonde's red eyes went wide and he slid to the floor, not moving. To his left Shukaku roared, and in front of him the little blonde wailed at the top of her lungs, tears streaming down her cheeks. But his concern wasn't for them, his concern was for the raven haired girl with green eyes staring up at him from the floor.

"O..Otou-sama…" her voice was harsh from the abuse her throat had taken.

Sasuke knelt examining the marks on her throat, when he heard Orochimaru-sama sigh.

"Really, Sasuke-kun? Sentimentality? Compassion? The love for family? I thought I had forced that out of you when I killed your wife and son." 

Kaede froze, her eyes glued to her father's as the comment sunk in. "Wha…What? Orochimaru-sama…Otou-sama, he's lying. Isn't he? Otou-sama!"

Sasuke couldn't bring himself to look into those trusting green eyes, and turned his head to the side. But Kaede gripped his wrists in her small hands. 

"Otou-sama! Please! It's got to be a lie! Okaa-san and Nobutada were killed by Konoha Hunter nin, right? Otou-sama!" 

But he still wouldn't meet her eyes.

"…You _knew_. You _knew_ killed them. _Why didn't you tell me?!_" She scooted back away from him, her eyes wide and tears trickling down her cheeks. Oh yes, _far_ too much like her mother.

"Kaede…I…"

Orochimaru sighed. "Sasuke-kun, as touching as this is, I really did have high hopes for you. But, with that brat around you'll never be able to truly give up your humanity. But if I kill her then I complete drive you away from me. I suppose the only thing left I can do is kill you both."

He looked at Kaede as he said this, his mouth opening to an abnormal size. Suddenly a snake shot forth, within its mouth a katana. Kaede's brain told her that moving would be a good thing, but she couldn't get her body to listen. _I'm going to die…_came the surprisingly calm thought. _Okaa__-san…_

But there was a dark blur in front of her which was then pierced by a flash of silver through the middle. She then realized in a moment of utter horror what the dark blur was.

"Otou-sama!"

The slender girl caught her father's body as best she could, laying him on the ground. She looked down, desperately trying to remember any first aid she could think of but her mind was a field of blank static. The katana had gone straight into his chest, right through the heart, as it had been meant for her. Blood trickled down the side of Sasuke's mouth as he gave a liquid sounding cough. The seal receded and his eyes and body returned to their normal state. 

 This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening…In her rush, she pulled the kerchief from her hair and wiped away the blood. Onyx eyes looked up at her hair and he gave a small smile.

"You finally decided to show me…" reaching up weakly he touched the faded blue hitae she wore.

"Otou-sama…"

"Far too much like her for your own good."

"Don't talk. I'll make you better. I'll figure out some way…" She realized she was crying again and sniffled, trying to stop.

"Be strong."

"What?"

"You're an Uchiha. Be strong, be proud. No one can take that away from you. And even if they try, remember.  Most of all, you're my daughter…and hers. No matter what anyone tells you, that's the thing to be most proud of. Because it's what we were the proudest of." He coughed again. It really was cold in here. And dark. What an odd feeling of déjà vu he was having...and his head hurt.

"Kaede, my head hurts. Take off the hitae."

"Hai." 

Sasuke could feel small hands gently reach under his hair and undo the knot on the hitae. He was tired, so he gave Kaede one last smile and then closed his eyes for a while.

It was dark, and then the next thing he heard was Sakura's laughter and the cry of a baby.

~~~~~~~~~~

Orochimaru nearly gagged at the quaint, clichéd picture the last surviving Uchihas made. The daughter crying over her dying father as he finally reveals he cares. How sweet, how tragic, how utterly revolting. Well, she would be joining him soon so no matter. Not to mention the Kyuubi. But then again, the Kyuubi hadn't moved since Sasuke-kun had hit him with the Chidori, so he was probably already in hell fighting it out with his eternal rival.

Oh well. One less to have to go through the trouble of killing later on.

Now about dear little Kaede-chan bawling her heart out over there…

Suddenly he felt a great deal of chakra near him and then heard a growl.

"She was mean, but she loved her Papa and her Mama and you killed them both!! And you made her Papa hurt Papa!!! You're a very very very very very very very _very_ _bad man!!!!_" 

The little Uzumaki was crouched on all fours, chakra swirling around her. Her eyes had gone glowing red and slitted, and the whisker marks on her cheeks a deep purple. She growled at him with exposed fangs and flexed the tiny claws on her hands. She lunged with a wild howl, scratching and snapping. And he dodged, sighing.

Really. Children these days.

*********

Somewhere in the realm between not quite a sleep but not really awake, Gaara heard a howl. It was too high pitched to be Naruto, but it was definitely the cry of a fox. Which meant…which meant he needed to wake up._Now__._

But Shukaku fought him. The demon was released and it was having _fun_. There was no way it was going back inside the wimpy human body and mind it had been contained in for so long. Gaara fought back because damnit there was something _wrong_ going on out there and it involved his family, and no pissy, high pitched, _raccoon_ was going to stop him.

The mental internal struggled caused Shukaku's physical form in the real world to suddenly pause. Which was long enough for Kabuto to land a punch to the redhead medium and wake him up completely. Sand cracked and broke apart causing the huge form to dissipate until it was merely a pale young man with blood red hair staring at him as Kabuto's hands wrapped around the other's throat.

Gaara blinked. "Thanks." 

And then in a truly Naruto-esque move, head butted the medical nin and shoved him away. He turned to see Kizuko, the air around her heavy with Kyuubi chakra, be stabbed by a Kunai wielding Orochimaru, who simply threw the kit away into an already fragile wall that broke around her on impact. She lay still within the brick debris and Gaara felt his blood boil. A continued look revealed Uchiha with at katana through his heart and his brat crying over him. He then saw Naruto, looking much worse for the wear with at large hole in the middle of his shirt. The blonde twitched and then sat up, gingerly poking at his stomach.

"Ow. God damnit, Sasuke that hurt! You do have any idea how hard that was to he…" He trailed off as he saw his ex-friend and rival on the floor in a pool of blood. Beyond that he saw his kitling on a pile of bricks. And in the middle of it all stood Orochimaru, smirking like there was no tomorrow.

"You fucking bastard."

"Language."

Naruto gave a snarl of rage. He didn't have much chakra left, so he turned inwards. _Oi__, Kyuubi! Time to pay the rent. _ Kyuubi quite pointedly explained that she had just healed him of a fatal wound. Naruto pointedly responded that the Snake had hurt their kit. Kyuubi suddenly realized that she was thirsty for snake blood. Naruto smirked and chakra flared bright red.

If later asked what happened in the battle, neither Naruto nor Gaara would have been able to give an accurate description. Both had been so lost in their demon's and their own, respective revenge and blood lust that they truly couldn't remember. Naruto vaguely recalled producing a mass amount of _Kagebunshin_ clones and each managing to produce a Rasengan simultaneously had done a good deal of damage. Gaara remembered something about managing to distract very large snakes with sand clones and protecting both himself and Naruto with sand shields. But when it came down to it, really the only thing they both could clearly recall was a very bad looking Orochimaru and Kabuto teleporting out of the base just before the two demons could attack for a final time.

"Damnit!!" Naruto shouted at the spot where the two Sound nin had just been. He was really exhausted and just wanted to fall to the ground as Gaara. So he did, the two leaned back to back panting and taking inventory on the various aches and pains their bodies were loudly broadcasting. Hearing movement next to him, he found the strength to open one blue eye. 

Sasuke's daughter still knelt next to the body of her father, tear tracks marking her face as she stared dully into space, her hands tightly clutching a hitae. Beyond that, however, he saw Kizuko struggle, stand up, and then limp towards him a bit. And then, she stopped. Looking at him with blue eyes, she said in a small whimper of a voice. "Papa…Kizuko is cold."

Suddenly, her eyes rolled back in her head, her knees buckled, and she fell to the ground. With a yelp, some how he found the strength and ran to her. There was a gash in her lower belly that had been bleeding but not badly. Eyes widening, he realized she must have foxed out and channeled her demon side when he was unconscious. Because she only had once source of chakra now, his own. The demon chakra was completely depleted.

And with a sob he knew. What happened to a creature that lived by taking two sources of chakra and blending them to make her own? What made them any different from a clone when one of those sources was taken away?

"KITLING!!!"

****************

Err…yah. *waves hand over the readers faces in Jedi Mind Trick Style* You _will_ ignore the fact that I copped out on the Orochimaru battle. This is not the fight scene you are looking for.

And yes. I am so very very evil. Did I write this whole entire story and make all of you fall in love with Kizuko-chan just so I could kill her? 

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! 

Seriously, I'm on a writing roll so I really really hope to get the next/last part of this out sooner than I got this out. 

However, now I need to go to the mall. ^_^;;;;


	8. chapter 8

Here we go folks. Final chapter, not counting the epilog that's going to be coming.

Oh yeah, you non yaoi people might wanna put on the blinders there towards the end. Yaoi fans? Luv ya! ^_~

Thanks everyone, and enjoy.

***********

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…this was _not_ happening. His little girl was _not_ dying in front of him. Not from something as stupid as chakra depletion. He always knew…always knew…he had tried to be so careful…so very careful…But then _the snake_ and Sasuke…Sasuke…Sasuke was dead some distant part of his brain told him. But that didn't matter. Nothing mattered because she was dying in his arms…the _only_ thing that mattered was fading away like a shadow clone once it had done its job of attack or distracting the enemy. No more chakra…he'd gone through so much trouble to make her…so very much blood and chakra…and now some of it was gone and she was going to go because she didn't have enough chakra anymore, even though he'd given her so very very much to come and bring joy to his miserable life. And now he wasn't going to see her smile any more or hear her laugh or watch her play with Kon Kon ever again because she didn't have enough chakra, despite all that he had given to those six years ago…

Given to her…his eyes widened and he started forming the seals before he knew what he was doing. 

"Naruto…"

He ignored the voice that was calling him. It wasn't important. Nothing was important. Except this.

"What are you doing?"

There was a hand on his shoulder now, trying to shake him, but he ignored it.

"What the hell are you doing?!!!"

Whoever it was was trying to _stop_ him. He lashed out and pale skin caught his hand. He saw red hair. _Gaara_, his brain supplied.

"Let go!! I've got to save her. She needs chakra, just like she did when she was born. I've got to give it to her or else!!"

"You'll kill yourself. You said it nearly killed you the first time and you were healthy. You're exhausted and worn out; it'll kill you to give her chakra now."

"I don't fucking _care_!!! I've got to save her, understand?! She's the most important thing there is. She's my family. She's the only one that's ever loved me unconditionally, no matter what, she's the thing that makes me worth more than the demon inside of me! Now fucking let go of me so I can _save_ her or I'll rip your throat out with my bare teeth!!"

"You're committing suicide!"

He laughed and it had a hysterical edge to it. "I know and I don't care! I've _got_ to save her. Now _Let. __Me.__ Go._" 

Gaara let go and he began the seals again. He could feel the chakra flow out of him and into the small body before him, strong at first but gradually weaker and weaker…It wasn't enough; he was going to kill himself and still fail to save his baby girl. 

Part of him laughed bitterly at how stupid a way to go this was, and another, larger half was just happy that at least they'd be together.

Then suddenly, the flow of chakra strengthed. It wasn't his own, and it wasn't Kyuubi's, but it felt familiar. Opening his eyes, he found Gaara sitting across from him, pale hands formed into the last of the seals, pouring what was left of his chakra into the small form just as Naruto was. The blonde looked at him in amazement and the redhead stared back.

"Family sticks together." 

~~~~~~~~~~

Shikamaru viewed the remains of the Sound base with an exasperated sigh. Yup. Property damage. Leave it to an Uzumaki.

"Oi. Kiba, anything?"

Kiba looked up from where he had been poking around what looked to have been a door way at one point, Pre-Demon Invasion. One finally sniff, and he nodded. "Yeah. Their scent goes in here and keeps on."

The team leader nodded in response and his dark eyes flickered to the Hyuugas on his left. "Neji?"

The dark haired man frowned, veins around his pupil-less eyes scrunching together. "There's chakra in there, but it's faint. I can't…"

A not quite dead Sound nin suddenly rushed forward, kunai in hand. He didn't get far enough to even reach his target as gentle hands touched his chest and back and an even gentler voice said "I'm sorry. Please, sleep now." 

Hinata gave the man a sad smile as he fell to the ground before her feet. She then turned to her cousin. "Is it them, Neji-niisan?"

Neji nodded a brief surge of pride at how far his timid little cousin had come. "Aa. I think so." 

"So, what are we waiting for? An invitation?" Chouji ask around a mouthful of odango from behind Shikamaru. The shadow ninja grinned.

"I think this is invitation enough. Man. Uzumakis…._mendoukusai__ na_…"(1)

"You said it." Kiba agreed as he cautiously entered the hallway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

They found the main room, with little trouble and the scene that awaited them caused just as little surprise. Although, Hinata did let out a soft gasp and race quickly to the back of the room where the bodies of the two demon vessels lay, almost as if protecting the smaller body in between them. Quickly setting about, she checked the pulse of all three and gave an audible sigh of relief. 

Kiba came up to stand behind her. "Okay?"

She sniffed. "Alive, but I wouldn't say okay. Just _look_ at the state Naruto-kun and Gaara-san are in." She quickly switched to the Byakkugan to check their chakra. 

And was quickly amazed.

"By the Hokages…" she said softly. Neji who had joined the two looked at her curiously and looked at the three and let out a low whistle.

"Uh…Hinata-chan? Love of my life? For those of us _with_ pupils, please explain?" He gave her puppy dog eyes and she favored him with a nasty look. Neji smirked. Yes, so very far his little cousin had come.

"It's amazing they're still alive. All of them. They've got the most depleted chakra I've every seen.  Kizuko-chan's is not as bad as Naruto-kun's or Gaara-san's but there's something odd about hers now. I can't quite place it."

"But…they're all alive?"

"Yes. They all need a very long rest, and probably some medical attention for those wounds, but nothing serious." She was quite for a minute. "The only reason they're probably still alive is…because they are what they are." 

"And it's probably the only time I'll be thankful for it." Came the weak voice.

"Gaara-san?"

"Yeah."

"How…?"

"Can't sleep, Tanuki'll eat me."(2)

"…right."

She set about healing what she could there on the spot, with healing jutsu and the supplies she had with her.

Chouji came up as she finished tying a bandage around Naruto's stomach. "They're okay?" he inquired.

"They're alive." She replied.

Chouji nodded. "That's good, because we've got other problems."

"Oh?"

He nodded over at Shikamaru who stood a little below the group, towering above a motionless little girl with dark hair who was clutching a hitae desperately. 

"Uchiha problems. The girl won't move. Shika's really trying not to use the _Kage__ Kuri Shibari no Jutsu_ on her. And Sasuke is…Sasuke is…"

Hinata nodded and packed up her supplies. She paused before Neiji, and bowed slightly.

"Neiji-niisan, please use the Byakkugan to continue monitoring their chakra levels and alert me if anything changes." Neji nodded, crossing his arms and settling into position to watch the three demons. Hinata bowed again. "Thank you, Niisan."

She grabbed her slightly confused husband, and headed towards Shikamaru. Upon reaching her destination, her eyes swept pass their team leader to the body lying on the floor. Between the placement of the katana, and the large pool of blood on the floor surrounding him, Hinata's heart sank. She reached down to take a pulse any way, closing her eyes sadly when she found none as she had expected. 

Then the little girl who had remained motionless shot forward, grabbing her hand. 

"Don't touch him!" she shrieked "Don't you _dare_ touch Otou-sama!"

 Tears streamed down her cheeks, her throat showed signs of abuse and blood trickled down the palm of her right hand as the metal of the hitae bit into her flesh. If she was going to say anything else it was cut off by a large hand of shadow grasping her about the throat and pinning her in place.

"You," Shikamaru said in a voice that was anything but annoyed or lazy. "are already walking on _very_ thin ice. So shut up."

She looked at him with dead green eyes.

"Nara Shikamaru, you let that child go _right this second_." 

Inuzuka Hinata, formally of the Hyuuga, was normally a sweet and gentle creature. However, harming a child, regardless of what the child had done, in her presence was enough to bring the Righteous Fury of the Hyuugas raining down upon thee. Perhaps it was this. Perhaps it was the fact that she _was_ a doctor and _he_ had to get sick sometime. Or perhaps it was the incredibly creepy, uncanny resemblance she bore to Ino who used that exact same tone on him. Whatever it was, Shikamaru released the jutsu. 

Thoroughly disgusted with himself, and perhaps just the tiniest bit frightened, he went to stand by Kiba who was suppressing a grin.

"Scary, huh?" 

Shikamaru didn't say anything.

"Quite a bit like a certain blonde kunoichi who works in a flower shop…"

"Shut up, Kiba."

"Don't feel bad. I think it's yet another one of those strange powers women have that we just can't understand."

"Shut _up_, Kiba."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hinata attempted to move the little one away from the body of her father, but she refused to budge. Internally sighing, she put on her best 'Doctor' smile and gently spoke to the girl. "Uchiha-san?"

"Kaede." Came the emotionless response.

"Very well. Kaede-chan, then. Your father…Sasuke-san…could you please tell me…"

She watched as the girl bit her lip hard enough to make it bleed and squeezed her eyes shut.

"O..Orochimaru-sama did it. He…he was aiming for me and Otou-sama stood in front of me to protect me. Orochimaru-sama…he killed Okaa-san and Nobutada…and now he's killed Otou-sama too. I…" Kaede looked at her, quite lost.

"Inuzuka Hinata. I'm a medical nin from Konoha."

Kaede nodded slowly, as if trying to take it in, but the world still just wouldn't work around her.

"Inuzuka-sensei…I…this is my punishment, isn't it?"

"Pardon?"

"For…for the little boy I hurt and the Uzumaki brat…but, see….I thought Konoha had done it! Killed Okaa-san and Nobutada…but…but Otou-sama was just lying to me…and I really wanted to make him proud…and …and now I'm alone…and…" She gripped the hitae tighter, fresh blood trailing down her arm.

"Here now, don't do that." Hinata gently unfolded her fingers from around the cloth and metal and took out some anti-septic and bandages to treat the wound. Kaede returned to her silent emotionless state.

"I…can't say for certain what will happen to you. But…I think you'll need to return to Konoha with us and talk to Hokage-sama."

Kaede winced. "I think the man over there with the ponytail doesn't want me going anywhere, except a torture chamber."

Hinata smiled gently, but there was a slightly evil glint in her eyes. "You leave Shikamaru-kun to me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Naruto awoke in the hospital a few days later, his first thought was _Help! The ramen's dancing ballroom style!!_ His second thought was a bit more coherent. _Kitling__!!_ Sitting up, he realized that he wasn't in their bed at the apartment nor was he on the cold floor of the Sound base. "where…?"

The curtain to the left of his bed suddenly flew aside, and Gaara of the Desert stood there glaring sand shuriken at him.

"Gaara, where…"

Gaara stalked over, grabbed him with a hand on each side of the blonde's face, and then proceeded to kiss him senseless. Naruto moaned into the kiss and eventually felt his lungs scream for oxygen. Stupid necessary breathing. Breaking the kiss, Gaara stepped back and continued to glare.

"If you _ever_ try that again, I will kill you myself. And brush your teeth. You've been asleep a week."

"A _week_?" 

"You're a fox, not a parrot."

"Kizuko…?"

"To your right." The sand nin nodded, indicating to the curtain to the right of the bed Naruto was in.

The blonde hopped out of bed, and then realized that a week in bed can lead to slight atrophy of the muscles not to mention really bad pins and needles. 

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow…."

Gaara rolled his eyes heavenward and slung one tan arm around his neck, helping Naruto over to the right side of the room. Pulling back the curtain revealed Kizuko curled up in the hospital bed, her golden hair spread over the pillow and her breathing normal. The Naras must have visited some time while he was asleep because a freshly mended Kon Kon lay on the pillow next to her. Naruto gave a sigh of relief and then broke into the fond smile of a father. 

Almost as if she sensed him near, the little girl began to squirm in her sleep and make general waking up noises. Hobbling closer, Naruto knelt down, folded his arms on the side of her mattress and rested his chin on them.

"Hey there, Kitling. How're you feeling?" he asked softly.

"Mmmm….Papa?" she asked with her eyes still closed. 

"Yup. Gaara's here too."

The sand nin reach over and brushed a few golden strands of hair away from her face in confirmation. She sat up, yawning and rubbing her eyes.

"Kizuko had a bad dream that she left Papa and Gaara and went some place dark and cold."

"Hey, Papa and Gaara are right here. So that's all it was, a bad dream." 

She smiled and opened her eyes. Naruto's jaw dropped and Gaara's eyes widened. Blinking, the little girl cocked her head to the side confused. 

"Papa?"

"Nu…nothing, Kitling. Don't worry about it."

Behind him, Gaara's eyes had returned to normal size. He snickered. 

"Oh shut up." Naruto said in disgust.

"Looks like she's not exclusively Papa's anymore."

"Don't make me hurt you."

"But you make it hurt so good…"

"GAARA!!" Naruto turned as red as Gaara's hair, a completely scandalized look on his face. "Not in front of the Kit!!!"

Gaara smirked that ever so arrogant smirk. 

Naruto dove at him.

Hinata walked in, saw the position the two had landed in and promptly walked out stuttering something about being back later and Naruto-kun shirtless and fanning herself.

Kizuko just giggled, hugged Kon Kon close, and smiled. 

She looked down where Papa and Gaara where on the floor and laughed aloud, her bright green eyes sparkling.  

Everything back to normal.

***************

(1) _Mendoukusai_. I've tried not to use more Japanese than necessary most of the time, but this one is somewhat difficult. Shikamaru says it _all_ the time and it's a bit difficult to translate. I've heard it translated as everything from 'tiresome' to 'pain in the ass'.

(2) "Can't sleep, clown'll eat me." Okay…so Gaara's not remotely Bart Simpson like in the least…._I_ thought it was funny….oh shut up.

Wow…I didn't realize so many people liked Sasuke….ummm…sorry? I just…really couldn't think of any way for him to redeem himself within the eyes of Konoha… He got to see Sakura and the baby again, that helps, right? Right....? ^^;;;;;   *listens to the crickets chirp* Kaede'll be okay though. I swear. Heck, if you're observant you can already tell what I plan to do about her.

Oh, and why is Hinata so OOC here?

(1) Shikamaru's being stupid because of what happened to Shinosuke. And because Kiba's a bit clueless, Chouji just follows the leader, and Neiji just stands in the background laughing at them all, I figure Hinata's the only one left with common sense to take charge.

(2) She trained with Tsunade, remember? Anyone who hangs around with Tsunade for a certain amount of time is going to learn how to command men and get them to do her bidding. In my humble opinion.

(3) Because, darn it all, Hinata kicks ass and I _like_ her. So there. *maturely sticks out her tongue*


	9. Epilougue

A week later, Naruto found himself on the familiar road to the Academy. It was Kizuko's first day back and he wanted to surprise her by picking her up. Gaara tagged along, his ever silent shadow, and they passed a group of village woman standing in a circle with shopping bags.

"Well, there they go…" 

"Can you imagine? Oh and did you hear that…"

"No! Really?"

"My husband heard it from Inuzuka Kiba personally. The entire place was in shambles."

"Well, _My_ sister's son's best friend works in the hospital and let me _tell_ you about the scene they caused in there. Why, I'm told Inuzuka-sensei, bless her heart, walked in to check up on them and fainted dead away at the scene."

Cue gasps of delicious scandalized horror.

"Oh, yes. And all the while in front of the little girl."

"Well, I declare…and she's such a sweet looking little thing too… if you just ignore her heritage."

Knowing nods.

"Come now, Tanaka-san, some things are difficult to forget. But you're quite right, why had she been raised in a different situation then…"

Naruto walked pass and grinned a foxy grin at the all. "Afternoon, Ladies." 

Gaara glared.

Well, that shut them up.

They made their way to the Academy. Naruto felt a sudden chill run down his spine, and shuddered, which made Gaara pause.

"What?"

" I dunno…it just feel like there's this ominous aura about that's got it out for me…"

"Don't be ridiculous." 

"I'm not! I swear it feels like…" 

A hand reached out of the door way he was standing in front of, grabbed him by the ear and drug him protesting with in the room.

"NA! RU! TO!"

"Iruka-sensei! I can explain! I…"

"SIT!!"

And thusly did Naruto sit, nevermind that the chairs were far too small for him. Gaara leaned against the wall and watched the scene with smirk and an air of immense amusement.

"I take my eyes off you for _five minutes_ and _look_ what happens. You're off trashing Sound bases and nearly getting yourself killed! _What_ have I _always_ told you?"

"Umm….don't drink the last of the milk and leave the container in the fridge?"

Iruka folded his arms and drummed the fingers of his right hand against his left arm, all while giving Naruto the 'I am _not_ amused' look. "Try again."

"Errr…never mix colors and whites?"

The look continued.

"Oh! Think before I act!....oh."

"Exactly. It's any wonder you've lasted this long." Iruka sighed the sigh of the long suffering and walked up, mussing the blonde's hair.

"I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei…"

"You'd think I'd be use to it by now. But…I'm glad you're alive. Kizuko-chan too. I…I heard about Sasuke and everything that happened."

Naruto shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant.

"You're not fooling anyone." Iruka crossed his arms again, giving the younger man a stern look.

"I nearly lost her, sensei. And I had to see a girl cry over the body of her father. I don't ever want her to have to go through that."

Iruka sighed and pulled his surrogate son/little brother close. "So be careful and she won't. You still care so very much…stupid elders….And you didn't just hear me say that."

Naruto grinned. "Oh yeah? How much ramen is that worth to you?"

"One bowl apiece at Ichiraku tonight for all of us. My final, last, and only offer."

"Really? Iruka-sensei, you're the best! Hey, Gaara!! Free ramen tonight!"

The redhead rolled his eyes. "My heart's joy knows no bounds."

"Spoilsport. Hey, Iruka-sensei…Sasuke's daughter…I know Bachan—"

"Hokage-sama or Godaime-sama. Be more respectful."

"Like I said, _Bachan_ talked to her, but I haven't heard anything since. What happened?"

Iruka gave up the concept of respect and Uzumakis together as a lost cause. Therefore, he went on to answer the younger man's question.

"She's staying in the village. A couple agreed to adopt her."

"Really? Like is that a good idea? And what couple would be crazy enough to adopt an _Uchiha_?" 

The chuunin shook his head. "Yes, really. I'm sure Hokage-sama has her reasons, and she's only 9 after all. As for the couple, I figured you would have known by now. The Inuzukas agreed to take her in."

"Inuzukas…as in Kiba and Hinata?"

"Ah. He can be taught."

"Man, I knew Hinata wanted kids but…"

"I think she'll be good for her. The girl's pretty messed up from what I hear, and I think having a mother like Hinata will help a lot."

Naruto was silent for a long while, simply staring out the window. "The world is very weird, isn't it, sensei?"

"You're telling me? I'm a _teacher_ for, leaf's sake."

At that moment, a small head sporting two golden pigtails bounced through the door hauling a dark head with tiny silver hoops behind it. "Iruka-sensei, can Kizuko and Shinosuke….Papa!!" 

Dropping Shinosuke's hand, she ran across the room and flung herself into Naruto's arms. "Papa, guess what? Some of the other girls where calling Kizuko weird earlier because she has green eyes like Gaara now instead of blue eyes like Papa. And…that made Kizuko mad… But then Kizuko showed Shinosuke her new eye color and he didn't laugh or say it was weird at all!! He said they reminded of the grass on his favorite cloud watching hill."

"Oh really?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at the boy across the room who suddenly found his feet very interesting. Gaara also noticed this and started noting weak points, should the need rise to kill, maim, or threaten the boy in the future. Shinosuke, being the child of Nara Shikamaru and Ino and therefore very intelligent, decided that it was now a good time to return home.

"Err…I just remembered that Kaachan said she needed my help in the store this afternoon. I need to get home. See you tomorrow, Kizuko!" He said very quickly and waved at his friend who waved back enthusiastically and then rushed out the door and down the street back home.

"Bye bye!! See you tomorrow!"

Iruka covered his face with a hand to try and cover up the chuckles of amusement coming from poor Shinosuke's plight.

"Ne, Papa. Shinosuke's parents are getting him something really really cool and Kizuko wants one too! Will Papa and Gaara make one for Kizuko?"

"Sure, Kitling. You know Papa and Gaara would get you anything." _Here it comes_, he thought. _First set of kunai? A scroll? His very first Go board? Knowing Shikamaru that'll be it._

Suffice to say, Naruto completely missed Iruka biting his finger to keep silent and trying not shake with silent laughter.

"A baby brother!!!!"

Naruto fell over in shock. 

"Ummm…Kitling…don't you think the family's just right as it is?"

"No."

"But, Kitling…"

"Kizuko wants a brother."

"Little brothers can be utter demons." Gaara pointed out.

"Good. He'll fit right in then." 

**********

Oh my goodness…it's over. It's really finished…I can't believe it. The story that spawned this entire freakin' universe in my head is well and truly done. It's kind of melancholy actually…like watching a child grow up and graduate or something. 

I never would have finished this if it weren't for all my reviewers and readers. So thank you all so very much for sticking with me and encouraging me. I'm so very glad you all followed along and came to like Kizuko and Shinosuke and Kaede. Thank you all so very much.

Hmm…so now what? Sequel? The further Adventures of Kizuko and Shinosuke? Oh the many many possibilities…^_^


End file.
